The controversies regarding the real benefits of coloring pages and books
Drawing and coloring are all-time favorite activities of children. What if coloring pages are not the best activity for your child's development? Coloring provides a medium that allows children to express creativity, but what about already prepared outlines of the most preferred animated character or any other general topic? Are they help to a genuine expression of the uniqueness of the act of creativity?
“The dependency upon someone else’s outline of an object makes children much less confident in their means of expression”. (Dr. Viktor Lowenfeld)
If you are a parent or an educator working with toddlers, you'll know that coloring sheets are a bit like gambling either children will love them or don't want them. So, what would you do in this case? Are you going to impose coloring sheets and hope that, in time, they will start loving them, or will you give up on them and let your little beginners express themselves freely?
It's a topic that comes around repeatedly, so we decided to lay it all out and ask those big questions: Are coloring sheets a bad idea? Do they stifle creativity? Should they even be an option in our settings?
There's a lot to unpack between the issues surrounding creative development to help children relax. When it comes down to it, the most important thing is to question if they add value to children's day, and if they don't - it might be time to reshift our focus.
A peek at creativity
We've heard it before - coloring sheets stifle creativity. They don't let children imagine the picture but give them a picture of a predefined concept or idea. We're giving our little ones pictures of flowers, houses, and birthday cakes.
If there's a coloring sheet with a picture of a sun, it'll be how we see it. It'll be round, with lines sticking around the edges, and nearly everyone would color the sun bright yellow. What if they see it as a massive purple face in the sky with a mop of curly hair?
Taking away their ability to imagine what the sun might look like essentially fences in their imagination, as they're encouraged to see the world through an adult's perspective. And whether consciously or unconsciously, we risk projecting our view before children can start imagining. So there isn't much room for interpretation when we use coloring sheets. However, that doesn't mean they can't be used to extend learning or enhance creativity.
Let's take a simple example. A child loves Tom and Jerry cartoons and won't stop talking about them. You want to develop their fine motor skills abilities, look at activities you offer, and look at ways to introduce fine motor skills differently, as they are not interested in the classical ones.
As a rule, you don't prefer coloring sheets because you consider that they add no value and stifle creativity. However, you offer a few Tom and Jerry coloring sheets as an option for them to enjoy the time, not only talking about their favorite cartoon characters.
In this case, you're leading with the child's interests and offering coloring in sheets as a starting-off point. Without the coloring sheet, the child might not have felt inspired to start drawing animals freehand and clamoring for a blank paper to draw their bunny's adventure. You know your child best and how to extend the learning at the right moment, but by being too quick to say no to coloring sheets, we might need a window of opportunity.
A stress-free zone
When you hear the phrase 'Oh, but children love coloring sheets,' have you ever stopped to ask yourself why they seem to enjoy them so much? Coloring helps reduce anxiety and stress levels in children, giving them a moment of calm concentration amongst the hustle and bustle of their daily lives.
And what's more, the stress reduction associated with coloring sheets applies to all artistic activities. Cortisol, the hormone released when stressed, lowers significantly after only 45 minutes of art creation - regardless of the activity!
So are coloring sheets good or bad for little artists?
There's nothing wrong with coloring sheets - we must be careful about how we use them. Like everything else, children need a wide range of activities to develop. Even though you may not be the biggest fan, some children clamor for them. The key is to keep our adult-led expectations from leading the creativity act. Placing a sheet in front of a child and telling them how they should color it isn't going to spark their inner artist, but allowing them to use and enjoy coloring sheets how they want to use them is perfectly okay.
They can still experiment with colors, patterns, and symbols as they go - regardless of whether there are lines. Letting them have creative freedom without restricting them to certain colors can help them develop harmoniously. You know your children the best. You already know that children need various activities to aid their development. There's no right or wrong answer to using color sheeting as there's nothing wrong with them - but if they're the only coloring option in your art corner, it might be time to rethink your provision.
How to maximize the learning
Some children adore coloring sheets, and we shouldn't be putting our distaste for them if they continue to ask for them. Sometimes they appreciate the quiet, concentrated activity. And simply taking a stance of 'coloring sheets provide no benefits' misses an opportunity to follow a child's interests and extend this quiet moment of concentration. Just because coloring doesn't have unique benefits doesn't mean we can't use it to extend other areas of learning.
