Does coloring in coloring books stifle a child's creativity?

Question

I heard that if a child colors in a coloring book it will stifle their creativity because they are told to color in the lines and feel they must use a certian color (for example:elephants must be colored gray). Whereas A blank sheet of paper encourages them to explore any option imaginable. Should my child color in a coloring book?

Answer 1

Coloring is, in fact, a great way for children to develop in many different ways.



Instructing a child to stay within the lines, if done in a positive way, encourages them to develop fine motor control and hand-eye coordination.



Color selection is completely up to the child. If you actually look at the world around you, some elephants are red-brown, nearly black, white, and gray.



A coloring activity can be enhanced by showing the child different pictures of the animals or objects and indicating to them the similarities and differences.



This helps them understand that there is a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes and allows them to ask questions and use their natural curiosity.

Answer 2

A coloring book will not stifle a child's creativity. The thing that would stifle a child's creativity would be if the parent told them they had to use particular colors or stay in the lines.



The coloring book is a starting point. It gives a general outline of an image that the kids bring to life. In some ways it might encourage creativity, because you can take two identical coloring book pages and end up with two competely different pictures.



It's less overwhelming also, whereas a blank page can be daunting, you already have a start on a coloring book page. Why can't a kid have both? Who says that a kid can't have coloring books *and* blank paper? And why should a kid be told that s/he needs to use certain colors or stay inside the lines just because that's how other people do things?



It's not the coloring book that causes problems, after all, it's just paper and ink. It's overbearing adults or even other kids who tell kids that they have to do things a certain way that create problems.

Answer 3

Actually, coloring is important to fine motor skills. It teaches children to stay within the lines as well as several other objectives (that honestly, I can not remember without looking up). Children should be encouraged to do their own drawings, but also allowed to color in coloring books if they so choose. It is also regularly used in the early grades in school, such as coloring a picture of the Flag for Social Studies, a picture of a bird when learning about the letter B, etc. Younger children do not have the ability to make their own drawings, only scribbles (which are also a beautiful thing). Coloring books aid in their later being able to draw. I would fully disagree with your husband on this matter. Coloring IS education-in fact, everything in a child's wife is educational in some way-from playing with balls (gravity and motion) to playing in the bathtub, EVERYTHING. Education can be fun-in fact, it should be. I would argue that school itself often stifles a childs creativity.

Answer 4

Of course the key is how they are told to color. If you force them to use certain colors that will stifle creativity. If you encourage them to try new things to see how they work out and learn from the results then their creativity will grow. At some point they will want a blank page but it can be a even more creative exercise to see what you can do with in the confines and limitations of preprinted pages like at http://coloring-pages.tv/

Answer 5

I really really wouldn't choose to worry about this. A child's life isn't either/or. A coloring book is never going to hurt a kid. My girls use both plain paper and coloring books and enjoy both. They are VERY creative. I think the idea of coloring books being stiffling is the idea of an adult thinking about their own feelings about art, not thinking about kids. When young, kids like to have parents draw things and then cover over them so that their drawing looks like something. Older kids can use coloring books as a pleasant way to pass time and also practise with control of the crayon/ marker. Coloring books wouldn't cause creativity, but not every instant of every day helps every developmental goal.

now i have heard adults tell kids they are coloring the wrong colors and i think that is just very odd.

Answer 6

Telling them to color in the lines don't stifle the creativity but if you tell them what colors they have to use then that will cause them to not be able to use their own creativity. Coloring books are just fine as long as you don't get bossy about them. Until they are 5 years old they don't have to learn to stay inside the lines and they shouldn't be told what colors to use.

Answer 7

My youngest is very creative with her coloring pages. Actually, the teacher brought it to my attention in pre-school and kindy. She tends to pick vibrant colors that are ironic for animals and things and sometimes she'll color a bunny in rainbow colors or an apple- orange.

Don't even get me started on blank pages! lol

I think a creative personality child will be creative if they are coloring in coloring books or blank pages.

Answer 8

I think coloring books can help creativity. Children can model what they see in book and then expand on it. So for me I will continue giving my daughter coloring books as well as blank sheets of paper.

Answer 9

Sure

Answer 10

studies show coloring is detrimental for a childs imagination, sure it doesn t show up on the interweb if you search it , but when I was an education student and had access to studies via databases the college paid for it is a fact I pulled from more than one study

Answer 11

That's crazy.

When I colour in with my kids, we have pink elephants, because that's what we feel like doing.

I don't dictate things to my kids, I encourage imagination. Who's to tell us there isn't pink elephants with green wings out there?

Imagination is the key.

Answer 12

i suppose if you freak out about color and lines then yea i just let my little one do whatever she wants when it comes to coloring