Simple Summer Fun: Coloring

After Raegan's post last week and the response it got, I thought it would beneficial to point out simple activities to do with your children that also help them learn. As was pointed out in comments to that post, children are constantly learning. We don't always need to do a fancy craft to learn.

A very simple activity is coloring. You can color in coloring books, on plain paper, and you can also print out coloring pages off the Internet. It is great for your child to color both pictures and just plain paper. Coloring helps with fine motor control, and it is fun! You can also reinforce things you have learned through coloring.

I love printing pages off the Internet. I simple Google what I am looking for. For example, we went to the zoo last week. Kaitlyn's favorite was the Giraffes. So I can Google "Giraffe coloring page" and get pages of results. You could also create a page of "green" things if you wanted to learn about green. Peas, grass, a truck...paste the items in a document in Word, print it, then give your child a green crayon to color. You can print out a block letter to color. You can Google "E coloring pages" and get pages of the letter E along with things that start with E.

It is really easy to work coloring in. Have your child sit and color while you get a meal ready. You can also do it in the car. Amazon has several travel trays available. We have this Star Kids Snack & Play Travel Tray and have liked it. It has been great for long road trips. The children are very content to sit and color while we drive.

So color! Have fun with it, and don't feel bad if that is the "only" thing you do that day.