Getting rid of all the colouring pages or not?

I am often asked whether colouring pages and books are right or wrong.

Honestly? For a long time I didn’t like colouring pages and banned them from my home and workplace. I was firmly against colouring pages. Because they hardly stimulate children to do their own thing. Personally, I think that is quite important.

The imagination is hardly stimulated, it is ‘nice and safe‘, it requires them to stay within the lines (adapt) and so I had a whole list of reasons why I thought all colouring pictures should go.

I still find this with young children. Up to about the age of 4, children don’t need much from a colouring sheet and are more interested in a blank sheet that they can discover, conquer, make their own, fill… So for nurseries, kindergartens: get rid of those things!

In this way, as an educator or caregiver you stay focused on the developmental steps and you offer the child room to go through those first developmental stages of drawing development. This in turn gives you tools to see where a child stands in its development, what growth jumps are to be expected, how the development of the self is or whether a child still needs extra proximity. And so on.

From the age of 4 onwards, children draw more and more figuratively (recognisable things) and narratively. They can tell all kinds of things about their drawing and that story remains the same.

From that moment onwards, you can introduce colouring pages. It is still not an enormous stimulus for the imagination. It remains a ‘safe’ tool. Yes, it is literally and figuratively ‘staying within the lines’.

And that can be a wonderful thing.

I realised that when our son was 5. He had days when he came home from school and was overexcited. On those days, he would suddenly ask me to print out a colouring page. Then he could be busy for a long time. Focus and relaxation. Right inside the lines. Not having to think about letters and numbers. Just do it and follow. Then I realised why I had that pile of adult colouring books in my cupboard and at what times I take them out.

When I am tired or have a lot on my mind. It offers peace and structure.

Since then, I have been less strict in my use of colouring books.

Nevertheless, I would like to make a strong plea for limiting them. Because I am certainly not a big fan. At home, the blank sheets are on the table and the colouring pictures and books are behind a little door. To stimulate making your own drawings.

Because yes; when you want to stimulate a child and offer space for individuality, it is good to limit the use of colouring pictures and not even offer them to young children up to 4 years old.

Children who are afraid of not doing things right or who find it difficult to interpret things for themselves are more likely to use colouring pictures. It can be good for them (and a challenge!) to put something on paper in a different way.

You know: I am all about reading and understanding drawings. So the obvious question is:

Can you read a colouring page?

In a way, you can. Only in a different way than when a child makes a spontaneous drawing. You look at different things.
Pay attention to the following:

• the use of colour; is it striking or just as you would expect?
• the theme of the colouring page; when children have free choice, this says something about what appeals to them at the moment. What theme is preoccupying the child and why? That gives you an insight into what is going on under the surface.
• does it literally and figuratively stay within the lines (appropriate to motor development)?

Just to name a few things.
As you can see, there is also a lot to say about colouring pictures. Now off to my adult colouring book.