Parents and caregivers can promote drawing and coloring  as a way to improve physical, social, emotional and cognitive development-and to have a lot of fun along the way too. Here are some suggestions:

The simple acts of drawing and coloring are  literally childs’ play, however, they both play an important role in a child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development. Drawing and coloring allows children to express their emotions like no other activity - it also helps them experience autonomy and builds their confidence. 

1. Provide children with nontoxic drawing materials, blank sheets of  paper and coloring pages.

2. Model drawing. Show children that you like to color and draw as well - make designs but do not show your children what they should draw.

3. Encourage all drawing and coloring  efforts by talking about the beautiful colors, the lines and  shapes the child has made.

4.Rather than enquire, “What is it?,”  say “Tell me about your drawing”. Asking “What is it?” suggests to the child that s/he may have failed to depict what they intended.

5. Talk about concepts like  thin, thick, wide, narrow, dark, light, edge, shape, contour, etc.

6. Display their art on the kitchen fridge, in their room and in places where visitors to your home will see them. Point them out to visitors - the praise for the work will boost a child’s self esteeem and confidence. 

7. Give children the freedom to choose the subjects of their drawings and of their coloring sheets. For example little girls  may enjoy coloring images of  princesses and fairies and at sites like Fairy Coloring Pages you’ll find the best coloring pictures of fairies

Little boys on the other hand tend to prefer images of cars, trucks and machinery – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies  are also hits with little boys.

8. Crayons pose a choking hazard - so always supervise younger children while they draw and color.