Parenting Tips

  What about coloring books?   

  I have heard many parents say, "But my children love coloring books." This is quite true, children in general, however, do not discriminate between things that are good for them or things that are detrimental. That they love things is not always an indication that they are good for them. Most children prefer sweets to vegetables and without doubt would usually prefer them. This, however does not mean that we should adjust their diet to sweets.

  When young children become conditioned to coloring books, there is usually a decrease and difficulty in enjoying the freedom of creating. Studies show that coloring books tend to create creative dependency. It has been shown by experiments and research that more than half of all children, once exposed to coloring books, tend to lose much of their creativeness and their independence of expression.

  Many feel that using coloring books help children learn the discipline of staying within the lines of a given picture or area. It has also been proven by studies that this is not true at all. More children color beyond the given boundaries in coloring books than in objects that they draw themselves. If a child draws his dog, he has much more incentive to remain within his boundaries than if he colors a dog in a coloring book to which he has no relationship.

  Coloring books, as well as ditto sheets, workbooks, cutouts, patterns, and clay models are of little value in teaching preschool children. They learn much better from real hands-on experiences such as family outings, manipulative materials, and opportunities for dramatic play and creative expression.

  The truth is that preschool children learn more from concrete experiences than from worksheets. Children need real experiences with objects before they can represent them or think of them in the abstract. Ditto sheets do not always match preschool children’s experiences. For example, a ditto sheet may require children to name the first letter of various pictured objects when children cannot even identify all the objects. Or children may be told to color pictures of grapes purple when the only grapes children have ever seen or eaten are green.

What you don’t learn from coloring  an elephant.

• How one smells.
• How big he is.
• What shade of brown or gray he is.
• How leathery and wrinkled his skin is.
• How soft his trunk is when it reaches into your hand for a peanut.