Coloring pages for kids

Looking for children's coloring pages?

And not just any old coloring pages either!

You need good quality online or printable pages that will engage your children's interest and enthusiasm.

There are thousands of children's coloring pages and activities on the Internet - so here you'll find tips on where to find the best coloring in websites, as well as how to use the resources on offer.

Some sites offer online coloring pages, others downloadable or printable pages for your kids to do offline, and some offer both options.

Online coloring pages for children

• mouse control
• observation and perception
• decision making and error correction
• imagination and creativity...

- what more could you want!

Try these ideas for size:

Kids coloring pages - online and printables
A selection of great sites with coloring fun for little kids.

Animal coloring pages
Here we hone in on great selections of animal coloring for kids - from familiar friends to endagered species, there's a gaggle... or herd... or flock of different coloring pages to choose from!

And if you're looking for further craft ideas for your young child, check out Little Kid Crafts for All Seasons.

Basically, kids love creating stuff on the computer, and instead of having to download a huge, complicated giga-byte wasting program that clogs up your computer and freezes the screen every ten seconds, you can simply load up the webpage and let the kids enjoy a good bout of online coloring page fun.

Quality online coloring webpages give good instructions and plenty of topic choice; the interface is clean and uncluttered, easy for kids to use - and will often allow your kid to print out their finished picture, sometimes with a little personalization.

Printable coloring pages

Whether your kids are

• on vacation
• recovering from a nasty bout of sickness
• getting together with some little pals
• or simply bored out of their minds

you can quickly produce something interesting for them to do.

Here are my tips for using coloring pages succesfully with little kids:

Create a special place to color
Small children love to settle down at a table with a big box of pens and pencils and color in a nice picture. It's as simple as that. It's a great, calming activity. Pop your child somewhere near you, lay everything out on the table, include a non-tip drink and a small plate of cookies, and dish up a variety of interesting coloring pages that will interest your child. Vary the location, too.

Suit the picture to your child's interests
Very young artists can start with familiar items - a ball, an ice cream, a flower, a face.

Girls will love anything Disney and animal-related. Boys love trains, trucks, firefighters, action heros... well, you know what your child likes best.

Extend the activity
If your child is into coloring pictures of horses, print out several pages that she can choose from. Once she's done, provide some plain paper or card that she can use to draw her own picture - she can copy from the coloring pages, or use one of her horse books to give her ideas.

Use coloring in as a group activity
When kids are together, coloring in enters another dimension. It's one way of getting all the kids sitting down together (if you're lucky!) but it's also fun to see how they take sneak peeks at each others' pictures to see what's going on.

There are different kinds of coloring games kids can play, too - color by numbers, coloring pictures of fruit the right color, or coloring in the same shapes with the same colors when the shapes are all arranged in pretty patterns.

You can stretch them to do their very best by offering treats for the best ones - just make sure everyone gets something, though!

Use coloring pages for a party icebreaker
If you're giving a party, you can use printables as a great warm-up activity at the start while everyone's arriving. Kids can take their pictures with them in their loot bags - and those that haven't finished can complete them at home the next day.

Join in!
Why not sit down yourself and color in a few pictures with your child? You can show them how to

• color in carefully around the edges, keeping within the lines
• shade in large blocks
• choose different colors all around their coloring pages
• sharpen a pencil
• put the lids back on the markers
• cut around the picture
• put their name on the picture

and you can talk to your child and have such a great time together!

Display their work
Kids love to see their finished artwork displayed. It shows them you think that what they do is important! Which, of course - it is! Stick your kids' pictures wherever you wish around the house, and change them at regular intervals.

If you're like me, you keep some (or almost all...) of them as keepsakes. I must be mad!