The Benefits of Coloring For Children

Coloring is a great way for children to practice holding a writing tool, a precursor to learning to write. Holding a crayon (or any writing tool) develops the intricate muscles in the hands, fingers and wrist. Developing these muscles increases a childs ability to use all hand-held tools.
Art is often used as a way for children and teens to express themselves in therapy or just for fun. It’s a way to get outside of whatever is going on in your head and relax or express something that is difficult to say out loud. I often set my little ones down with a coloring book when they are acting out as a way for them to relax and focus on something other than the stressful situation.

When children color inside the lines they practice coordinating a complex set of perceptual skills. They learn to use their eyes to control both the large and small muscles in their arms, hands, fingers and wrists. Their ability to use eye tracking and focusing skills improves, which helps them later with reading.

Free Coloring Pages

Children love to color and we love to encourage creativity, but lets face it, a two year old can scribble their way through an entire coloring book in one afternoon, which is why we were excited to find these free sources for printable childrens coloring pages.

Huge Selection of characters, holidays, puzzles, etc.

Free Coloring Pages, also games & activities

Crayola - need we say more (:

Coloring Book Fun

Coloring Book Fun – is a well categorized site that also includes an educational section. We love that they also have a Basic Shapes section – a hard to find category that is perfect for very young artists. You can also sign up to be notified via email when new pages are added to the site.

Print them out and let the crayons fly!

childrens coloring book bargains

free childrens games, activities & crafts

It’s addictive! We’ve continued to find more free childrens coloring pages, free games and activities that can be printed out. These are great for car trips. Print out a stack and stash them in the backseat along with a set of crayons and you’ll never here “are we there yet?” again :)

PrintActivities.com – printable worksheets for preschoolers, kindergarteners and grade schoolers, math worksheets, puzzles, mazes, and so much more.

ABCteach – thousands of printable worksheets & activities, over 35,000 pages!

Activity Village – for parents, teachers and children to find coloring pages, childrens crafts, home schooling resources, puzzles and more. Bonus: they have lots of fun activities for kids, organized by seasons.

Free Kids Crafts – free kids craft ideas including free printables, holiday crafts, coloring pages and more!” />

Kidzpage.com has hundreds of free kids games, puzzles, activities, coloring pages, clip art & more for children, families, parents and teachers. They also have free online games, puzzles, educational games, printable activities. More printables are added on a regular basis for kids, schools and family fun.

Note: if you would like to recommend your favorite site for free coloring book pages please leave a comment in the Comments section.