Benefits of coloring

Coloring books and pages have been around for a long time. They appeared in the 19th century as part of the "democratization of art" movement in the United States. The idea was that every student would benefit from learning to appreciate art and beauty, whatever their artistic ability.

In the 1880s, McLoughlin Brothers produced one of the first coloring books, The Little Folks' Painting Book, with pictures by Kate Greenaway.

In education, coloring books offer a much more exciting path to knowledge than traditional methods. Bright colors and visual representations of ideas are easier to remember than plain text, and a child can interact with the material in a naturally appealing way. Instead of being told not to draw in the textbook, the child is encouraged to change the material in whatever way suits them.

Color itself is something a child learns. Using different crayons, children memorize the names of colors, see which combinations work best and learn what primary and complementary colors are.

At the same time, coloring pages give a certain structure and get a child used to a setting much like a classroom. It stands to reason that such a child will adapt to school more quickly.

Being aware of boundaries, whether you choose to respect or break them, is an important part of growing up. Coloring offers a safe way to follow the rules or rebel against them. Children can also learn about the symbols of their own and other countries^[1] by coloring and exploring them.

Another benefit of coloring pages is that they develop and maintain visual and motor skills. Hand-eye coordination is an important part of cognitive skills, and coloring balances the text-based and logic-oriented work that takes up so much of study time.

The effect of coloring pages on children's creativity has sometimes been questioned, but there are studies^[2] showing that the originality of children's freehand drawings increases after a coloring exercise. The researchers used ordinary tree coloring pages, like these^[3], to stimulate children's imagination.

Here is a specific example. If you are the parent of a five-year-old boy and want to offer him a suitable activity, you can find and print a truck coloring page (for example, one of these).

An interesting recent trend is the popularity of coloring books for adults. According to some publications, they have become one of the most popular kinds of printed books^[4].

Coloring books are compared to therapy and meditation, and they really do offer a pleasant way to reduce stress by concentrating on a well-defined task. This often produces a very useful psychological state known as "flow". It was first described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi^[5] and is characterized by complete concentration on the task at hand and a feeling of full competence without boredom. Many people in our anxious society would welcome such relief, and coloring can provide it by immersing them in something beautiful and engaging.

New ways of using coloring pages include making difficult subjects such as mathematics more accessible. The Mathematical Coloring Book^[6] is one example, although its author uses color in far more varied ways than coloring inside the lines. Other examples include an innovative way of teaching students the Fortran programming language.

Of course, using colors to memorize material such as human^[7] or animal anatomy^[8] is a common technique. It agrees with the well-known encoding specificity theory^[9]: to remember material well, a student should learn it in as many different and distinct ways as possible.

There are also coloring books about certain medical conditions^[10] that help children with disabilities understand their condition and become more ready to take part in treatment.

Coloring can also be a way to connect with other people. There are quite a few coloring clubs in the US and elsewhere. And getting out some crayons and coloring with your kids is a great way to spend time as a family. It gives everyone a much-needed chance to put their smart devices away for a while and remember simpler, more natural ways to spend time.