How to Help Your Child Color in the Lines of a Picture
Adults tell kids to color inside the lines from an early age, but random patches of color or crayon marks outside the lines won't make or break your child's future. Children develop at different rates, which means your tot may fall behind his peers on certain tasks, such as coloring. Some children lack the fine motor control to color within the small confines of a printed picture. If your child struggles with holding and controlling crayons, working on his fine motor skills can improve his coloring.
Things You'll Need
- Round cereal
- Pipe cleaners
- Spray bottle
- Large tweezers
- Crayons
- Markers
- Coloring books
Instructions
Build your child's hand strength and coordination with activities that require pinching and grasping small items. Scholastic suggests threading items, such as circle cereal pieces onto a pipe cleaner, or squeezing a spray bottle to develop hand strength. Another simple activity is to have your child pick up objects using large tweezers. Stock your child's art area with coloring utensils of different sizes. Crayons typically come in the normal skinny size and a thicker size that may be easier for your child to hold and manipulate. Markers also come in different sizes. The variety allows your child to test different writing implements to find one that is easy for her to control. Encourage your child to draw and color often without forcing him to stay inside the lines or draw anything in particular. Let him scribble on blank paper if he wants. He'll develop better control with more practice using crayons. Color with your child to model staying inside the lines. If she feels discouraged that she cannot color like you, let her know you practiced for many years and you couldn't always stay inside the lines. Make coloring and art time enjoyable without forcing her to stay inside the lines. Offer your child coloring books with large, simple drawings instead of images with small, intricate details. The simple pictures give your child large borders that are easier to stay within.
