| | | Note: This article was originaly written for customers interested in the Color and Learn series. A link to that series can be found at the bottom of the article.
There are a lot of great educational coloring books on the market, but the Color and Learn series is my absolute, hands-down favorite! What makes this series so special?
 1)The pictures are detailed enough to be accurate, but are not so finely detailed as to be frustrating. My older kids and my preschoolers all enjoy them.
2) Each page has a few sentences of information about the topic. If a child did nothing more than to color each picture and read the captions, he would have an excellent overview of the subject at hand.
3) The pages are fully reproducible, making these books an incredible value. (This also means no more tears from someone who "messed up" his page!) Each page is also perforated for easy removal. When we get a new one, I tear out the pages and put them in a binder in page protectors so that no one accidently colors the originals.
4) The first page of each book lists a variety of additional activities for a number of the pages. They include adding specific extra details, coloring certain items certain colors, etc. The instructions are all listed on that one page, rather than on the individual coloring pages, so if you or your child opt not to do them, the page will not look "unfinished."
Why use educational coloring books in your home education?
~They allow younger children to participate in an age-appropriate activity that pertains to the subject your family is studying. Our toddlers and preschoolers love getting their own copy of a coloring page. It keeps them busy and helps them feel involved.
~Educational coloring books with text on the pages make great overviews of the subject at hand. We have used each page in a coloring book as a point in an outline. We use other books and resources to fill in each subject covered in the coloring book. This can help add structure to the study of a topic about which you are unfamiliar.
~Many (most) children need to move and do things. Having a coloring page to color while mom reads out loud will often help the children absorb the material better, since they are seeing, hearing, and doing.
~It can be hard to find just the right picture to make a notebook page, lapbook, mini book, etc. Reproducible coloring books are a wonderful source for that kind of picture. You can even enlarge our reduce the picture to fit your needs.
~I like to have my children work on an educational coloring page while I gather books, prepare a project, work with a younger child, etc. It keeps the children on task instead of getting board or restless.
~The intense concentration to detail that occurs when a child is coloring an educational picture really helps the child to remember and absorb the information.
~ Nature or science related coloring books can be a tremendous help when compiling a nature notebook. Children who prefer not to draw can color and glue in pictures, and young artists can creat a sketch using the coloring page as a reference. When we are taking a nature walk, I encourage the children to really enjoy and interact with nature. We find it easier to draw from a model (coloring page, field guide photo, etc.) when we get home because it is easier to draw something that is not moving. It is also more convienient to have all of our art supplies at hand and have a safe way to occupy the little ones while the bigger ones draw in their notebooks. (One of our preschoolers really thinks he is Davy Crockett and would be off hunting for bear if we tried to stop long enough to draw in the woods!!)
You can find our line of educational coloring books here.
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