Why Coloring Is Good For Children

Most kids probably don’t have to be sold on coloring books. Kids generally love to color. But are parents equally sold on putting good-quality coloring books in front of their kids? With all the other educational and entertainment options available to our kids, why should we want them to color?

Coloring is wonderfully slow-paced. Perhaps we are beginning to wake up to the danger of fast. Quick-paced, hyperstimulating activities are simply not good for children. Coloring, by contrast, requires the kind of plodding concentration that has become undervalued in our culture.

Coloring contributes to a sense of accomplishment. We’ve all seen little children hold a finished coloring page over their heads, satisfaction beaming from their faces. Jesus actually illustrates discipleship by the then-obvious discipline of pursuing a project to its end (Luke 14:25–33). With every finished coloring page, children learn the value of a job well done.

Coloring achieves multisensory learning. We know that different teaching methods activate different parts of the brain; multisensory teaching better embeds truth in the minds and hearts of kids. Coloring books invite children to use the movements of their own bodies to add depth and meaning to what they hear and see. They aren’t just flipping pages; they are focusing, noticing, and contributing to the learning process.

Coloring allows children to be media producers rather than consumers. We can all appreciate pre-finished projects, toys that we can simply play with, without having to construct. But are today’s kids “building” less than their parents and grandparents did? Modern children are ruthlessly targeted as consumers. By helping them produce, we enable them to join us in fulfilling God’s cultural mandate (Genesis 1:28).

Coloring helps teach children the often-underestimated value of beauty. In a production-focused, efficiency-driven world, utility often trumps beauty. Of all people, Christians should be most keen to notice, and attempt to mirror, the inherent beauty of God’s world.

But don’t take my word for it. Encourage your kids to color. Provide them with excellent coloring books. And, whenever you can, join them in creatively reflecting the work of our Creator through coloring!

William Boekestein pastors Immanuel Fellowship Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He has written several books for adults and children, including his most recent, A Colorful Past: A Coloring Book of Church History. He and his wife, Amy, have four children.