Why Colouring Is So Good for Young Children: 7 Benefits of Colouring

Colouring might look like simple play, but there’s actually a lot happening while those little hands are busy with their pencils and crayons.

For young children, colouring is an easy, screen-free activity that encourages creativity while giving them opportunities to practise skills they’ll use as they grow.

And perhaps one of the best things about it?

It doesn’t require an elaborate craft cupboard, expensive equipment or an afternoon of preparation.

A colouring book, a handful of pencils and somewhere comfortable to sit can be enough.

Here are seven reasons we think colouring deserves a regular spot in your child’s day.

1. Colouring Gives Little Hands Lots of Practice

Holding a pencil or crayon, moving it across the page and trying to colour different shapes all give young children opportunities to practise controlling their hands and fingers.

Those small movements are part of developing the fine-motor skills children use for everyday tasks such as drawing, writing, using cutlery, fastening buttons and getting dressed.

They don’t need to colour perfectly for it to be worthwhile.

Scribbling across the page, experimenting with different grips and gradually gaining more control are all part of the process.

2. It Encourages Creativity

Who says a dog has to be brown?

Or a cat has to be black?

In a child’s colouring book, Cashew can have blue ears, Miss Winter can be rainbow-coloured and Possum can have bright pink paws if that’s what they decide.

Colouring gives children a space where they can make their own choices.

Rather than worrying about whether something is “correct”, encourage them to experiment.

Try asking: “What colour do you think Cashew should be today?”

You may get a very different answer from the one you expected.

3. Colouring Can Encourage Concentration

Colouring gives children one simple activity to focus their attention on.

They choose a colour, work on one part of the picture, move to another section and gradually watch their picture come to life.

For younger children, you don’t need to expect long periods of concentration. Even sitting with an activity for a short time gives them an opportunity to practise focusing on something without constant stimulation.

And because they’re creating something themselves, they often don’t realise they’re practising anything at all.

4. It Can Be a Lovely Quiet-Time Activity

Not every part of a child’s day needs to be noisy, busy or highly stimulating.

Colouring can work beautifully during those quieter moments — after kindy or school, before dinner, on a rainy afternoon or when everyone simply needs the pace of the day to slow down a little.

Put the pencils on the table, choose a page and let them settle into it.

You might even colour alongside them.

There’s something rather lovely about having a quiet conversation while everyone’s hands are busy.

5. It Gives Children Choices They Can Make Themselves

Young children spend a lot of their day being told what happens next.

Time to get dressed. Time to eat. Shoes on. Into the car. Bath time. Bedtime.

A colouring page gives them a little world they can control.

They decide which page to colour.

They choose the pencils.

They decide whether the sky is blue, purple or bright orange.

And when they finish, the picture belongs completely to them.

6. Colouring Can Turn Into Storytelling

This is one of our favourite things about colouring.

A picture doesn’t have to stop being interesting when the colouring begins.

Talk about what is happening on the page.

You could ask:

• What do you think happens next?
• Where do you think they are going?
• How do you think the character feels?
• What would you do if you were there?
• What should we call this adventure?

Suddenly, colouring becomes imaginative play and storytelling too.

That’s particularly fun with characters children begin to recognise because every picture can become another little adventure.

7. It’s Screen-Free Entertainment That Travels Almost Anywhere

Colouring is wonderfully uncomplicated.

You can do it at the kitchen table, on the floor, at Grandma’s house, on holiday or while waiting for something else to happen.

A colouring book and a pencil case can become an easy addition to a restaurant bag, travel bag or rainy-day cupboard.

There are no batteries to charge and no Wi-Fi required.

Just open the book and start creating.

Make the Picture Part of the Adventure

One of the reasons we created It’s Cashew’s World was to make colouring about more than simply filling in shapes.

Cashew, Miss Winter and Possum are inspired by real family pets, and their personalities and everyday antics inspire the adventures in their world.

Cashew is our enthusiastic cocker spaniel who approaches life with an enormous heart and considerably more enthusiasm than common sense.

Miss Winter is curious, adventurous and always interested in whatever is happening.

And Possum?

Possum is the Queen of the House — and everybody else just lives there.

That means children aren't simply colouring a puppy or a cat. They're beginning to discover characters, personalities and little stories along the way.

Try This the Next Time Your Child Colours

Instead of asking:

“What are you colouring?”

Try asking:

“Tell me what's happening in your picture.”

It's a tiny change, but you might be surprised by the story that follows.