I’ve also found this a great way to encourage children’s fine muscle coordination.  As I’ve substituted in kindergarten this year, and followed the youngsters throughout the school year, I’ve seen a great improvement in their ability to stay within the lines, even with small pictures.

Coloring is more than simply busy work. It’s a way to develop children’s coordination, a form of rehab after accidents and strokes, keeps arthritic fingers active, and often leads to a hobby in some form of art.  With Alzheimer’s patients, it helps keep their minds and fingers active.

There’s an interesting article, Coloring Pictures Is a Lot More Than Just Fun, at Better Parenting that explains the benefits of coloring for your youngsters…for learning and for fun.  I’ve even sat down with youngsters and colored, trying out various drawing/coloring items and materials.

It can become a grand experience in artistic discovery as well as muscle development and coordination.

How have you used coloring and art in your family or at school?

(Amazon image)

Post from: Blisstree

Do Your Youngsters Like to Color & Draw?

Every parent I talk to seems to have a ton of their kid’s artwork that they just don’t know what to do with anymore.  Over the years it can certainly multiply, especially if you have an industrious little artist! 

And it’s always a hard thing to get rid of.  There’s the guilt of disappointing your child versus the reality that you probably don’t have room to save it all. 

That’s why I loved this article on “5 easy ways to display and save kid’s art.”  One of the tips I really liked was keeping a scrapbook with the art in it.  Since so many of us are into scrapbooking these days, it would be a fun and easy project to use art as part of a page. 

I also thought the idea of making it a game with your kids made sense.  Like, “Let’s see which pictures are the ten best and save those.”

I also know of parents framing some of their kids artwork and decorating their rooms with it.  The clothspin method works good too, because you can easily display the art and change it out as new pictures are created.

What are your ideas for saving kid’s artwork?  

Post from: Blisstree

Saving Kids Artwork