Colouring in

When I was working at the nursery, we used colouring in pictures, usually with some activity attached such as "colour in the ladybird and give it some spots", or "give the butterfly a pattern" etc.

I found it was good for pencil control and the older children loved it.

I was told at a CM group that they never use colouring in pictures because it just isn't the children's work. I can see the thinking behind this, but I think they have their place. I wouldn't use them as an art activity, but more for pencil control and an activity attached to a topic.

Do you guys use them?

xx

very interested to see answers.
I tend to use books I buy that have their interests ie I got a spiderman book recently that had some colouring in but I think everything in .

i think if it's something that interests the child i.e. a Ben 10 book or Princess it does no real harm but if you look at how young children (under 5) colour in there is no real point to it for them, they are not trying to colour it in, they are just making lines. Whereas, in free drawing they use lots of symbols, make heads, eyes, mouths, ears or do lots of letter like marks.

having said that for chinese new year my 2 (nearly 3 year old) didn't colour in her dragon but did draw some fire coming out of it's mouth.

I think the idea about decoratign butterlies or ladybirds can work and give them more free expression but for pencil control I still think drawing their own ideas is more motivational practice for them - you see them start to control their symbols in mark making as they get smaller and smaller or as eyes become spots instead of big circles or spirals. :)

I use them a lot. It introduces shapes and patterns and the idea of different themes like a daffodil or shamrock and I usually do other related things like biscuits etc.

I also do according to the childs interests and I had one 3yr old who was a wize at colouring in and asked to do it.

Your CM-ing group are right, there was a move in pedagogy away from giving children e.g. outlines of Easter eggs, firework/rockets, Christmas trees, to 'colour' - instead you're now supposed to show children real objects/images and then allow them to create their own picture. This means that the child uses their imagination rather than creating a neat, identi-kit picture.

There's a joke that if you look at a display in an Early Years classroom you should only know what its about by the title. :)

I think there's a place for both, some children love 'colouring in' and it does teach them different skills. I have started to use it with my under 3's occasionally when I'm focussing on pencil grip. As long as you don't use it all the time then it shouldn't be a problem.

Don't have them up on your wall when you have your Ofsted inspection, my inspector did not like it and I had to argue there was lots of other evidence that the children used all manner of media as well as colouring in!

It is really interesting to hear peoples views and experiences on this!

I've been minding for a year now and we haven't yet used any colouring in as I've mainly had under 3's. Now I've got two 5 year olds and they suggested we do some.

The 4 year olds at the nursery used to colour in simple patterns and pictures sometimes (we didn't use them lots, but now and then connected to a topic), and they generally did it inside the lines, actually colouring them in.

Personally I don't like them as pictures, and I didn't really like the bags full of colouring in my kids created when they were young. I've kept none of them as it wasn't their own work as such.

However, I remember how much I loved colouring in when I was a child. My felt tips and my colouring books were very precious to me.

xx

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Originally Posted by keeks

It is really interesting to hear peoples views and experiences on this!

I've been minding for a year now and we haven't yet used any colouring in as I've mainly had under 3's. Now I've got two 5 year olds and they suggested we do some.

The 4 year olds at the nursery used to colour in simple patterns and pictures sometimes (we didn't use them lots, but now and then connected to a topic), and they generally did it inside the lines, actually colouring them in.

Personally I don't like them as pictures, and I didn't really like the bags full of colouring in my kids created when they were young. I've kept none of them as it wasn't their own work as such.

However, I remember how much I loved colouring in when I was a child. My felt tips and my colouring books were very precious to me.

xx

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i think you are right adn once a child has mastered their own style of drawing it can feel quite an achievement to colour something in beautifully but rarely in the under 5's. I remember loving my art stuff too - also painting by numbers :D

I would never stop a child doing one if they asked and I think that pictures for topics like festivals, etc have their place as they support books and pictures in teaching children what things look like. After all, how will they learn to draw a dog if they don't see pictures of them so I think used this way in combination with real life and books they support learning. But if you look at how younger children colour in they are just block colouring and not taking any real notice of where the lines stop. When they are in this block stage I think that drawing pattersn on outlines such as butterflies etc or just free drawing painting is much more beneficial:)

I do a mixture of colouring in and blank paper. I find that sometimes its good to your a pre printed picture. For Chinese new year i found a lovely on and made it upto A3, think thats the size bigger than A4, we chatted about all the things we could see in the picture first then they each had a copy to colour. Another day we looked at pictures of China and they had blank paper and created there own picture. I put a mix of both on the wall. My own children love colouring in and will spend ages doing it. They also love the doodle pads where part of a picture is pre drawn and they are asked to complete it.

I buy colouring books and print pictures off the computer for the school age children, if the younger children ask for one I give them one but never expect them to colour in the lines

I have a tray of printed colouring sheets, and also blank paper. I allow the children to choose what they use. My own DD (aged 3) would never even think to pick up a blank sheet of paper. She likes to colour in the pictures and has just now started to try not going over the lines when doing it. Other mindees prefer the blank page, depends on the child I suppose.

We do plenty of other things that allow the children the opportunity to develop their creativity and express themselves. And any colouring sheets I have out are following the childrens current interests or are related to a topic e.g chinese new year or valentines day!

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Originally Posted by hello kitty

Don't have them up on your wall when you have your Ofsted inspection, my inspector did not like it and I had to argue there was lots of other evidence that the children used all manner of media as well as colouring in!

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Another example of inspector's personal preference. I had colouring pictures on the wall, my inspector made no comment :rolleyes:

I do use colouring pictures, the children often ask for them especially character ones like Fireman Sam, Hello Kitty etc and they love printing them off!

But we do also do lots of creative stuff where they draw/make their own pictures.

Miffy xx

My oldest mindee is just 3 and asks for pictures to colour in - sorry but my drawing skills are not up to drawing Gruffalo 10 times a day!! He does do his own drawings too - just swirls, scribbles and dots :laughing:

I loved my wax crayons, felt pens and colouring books when I was young as I did any arty activity. It's all a question of balance :)

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Originally Posted by PixiePetal

My oldest mindee is just 3 and asks for pictures to colour in - sorry but my drawing skills are not up to drawing Gruffalo 10 times a day!! He does do his own drawings too - just swirls, scribbles and dots :laughing:

I loved my wax crayons, felt pens and colouring books when I was young as I did any arty activity. It's all a question of balance :)

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I agree, my dd who is now 4 has been colouring in pictures of peppa pig etc very well since she was about 2 and a half, it's not scribble its colouring in the picture, I really don't understand the problem. X