Are there benefits to coloring?

My daughter loves to color in and since spending more time at home, it is something I have encouraged (it also means less screen time). So are there benefits to coloring? I did some research and yes, there seems to be 5 main benefits for kids when they participate in coloring.

These are:

1. Fine Motor Skills Development – gripping pencils, textas or crayons aids in developing your child’s fine motor muscles in their hands and fingers. It also provides an opportunity to practice holding their pencil in the correct way.  
2. Color recognition – coloring allows your child to choose and understand different colors and see how they appear on the page. It helps them to recognize different shades, hues, lines as well as perspective. It also allows them to better identify shapes and different forms.
3. Concentration and Focus – A child’s length of concentration develops and improves over time. Coloring requires concentration and focus to color in the lines and to finish the picture, hence helps to develop their overall concentration. Coloring is also known to calm and relax a child and in adults it is promoted as a mindfulness activity. Letting your child progress through easier images to more intricate ones assists in furthering develop their concentration.
4. Better Hand-Eye Coordination – having to color in the lines aids in improving their hand-eye coordination. It also assists with learning how to apply color in the right areas.
5. Sense of Achievement – finishing a picture and admiring the aesthetics, the colors and the finished product gives your child a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence.

Inspired my daughter and her love for all things unicorns, mermaids, and rainbows and the benefits of coloring, I decided to unleash my own creativity and create (with the help of a talented illustrator) a lovely coloring book containing 50 beautifully hand drawn images from easy to expert. ​Unicorns, Rainbows, Mermaids and More was made available on Amazon this week and I am thrilled to share this with you.

So if your child enjoys coloring then there are definitely some benefits in doing so and if you do end up checking out my new coloring book then I really hope you enjoy it.