Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Atlanta, GA

Drawing and coloring with your kids is a great activity to not only help your child express himself, but it also fosters imagination and helps kids learn to think outside the box.  I'm sure we've all sat down with a child to color a page and cringed just a little when the child started to color the cow blue or the little girls face green.  To kids there are no rules.

I do believe that there are times when coloring pages or coloring books are good.  For one thing, coloring inside a pattern helps kids to develop fine motor skills.  But most of the time, I find they restrict imagination.  I find this with my boys.  Give them a blank piece of paper and they will draw for hours.  Coloring books they can take or leave.  They seem to get too caught up in the picture itself.

There is one "coloring book" though, that I absolutely love.  When we were in England last year visiting my husband's family we went to the Tate Modern (art gallery).  If you are ever in London, it is Fabulous!  They have a whole program there for children to keep them interested.  Not unlike the High Museum of Art's program here in Atlanta.  While at the Tate, we got a "coloring book" called, "The Anti-Coloring Book" by Susan Striker & Edward Kimmel. 

Just one look at the Anti-Coloring Book and I knew it was right up my kids' alley!  Inside this book are pages with ideas set forth for the kids to develop further.  Each page has a scene for the kids to complete and a question or concept for the kids to fill in the blanks.  For example, on a page with a few underwater plants and a scuba diver already drawn on it, with plenty of room to draw.  And at the bottom the words,  "You are a scuba diver and you have just made the most exciting underwater discovery.  What have you found?"  There are pages with scribbles for the kids to finish the picture, every day objects like scissors, and you have to turn it into something else.  The Anti coloring book website has some pages you can download to try out.  This is honestly, one of the best "imagination" books ever.  It is a big hit in this house!