Why create colouring sheets?
There are number of heath benefits that colouring offers adults and children which makes it a great family activity.
Colouring is the perfect activity for any age and can be a wonderful way to spent a rainy afternoon.
Before I became a parent I always wondered why restaurants offered colouring sheets to their young patrons. Now as a parent I understand.
Health benefits of colouring
Colouring isn’t just for children as its health benefits pass just as easily to adults.
Adult colouring books are now best sellers and for good reason.
Reduces stress and anxiety
We could all do with reducing stress in our lives.
Colouring has the ability to relax the fear centre of your brain, the amygdala. It is equal to meditation and helps to reduce the restlessness of the mind.
Improves focus
Colouring requires a kind of focus which is stress free. It opens up your frontal lobe, which controls organising and problem solving, and allows you to put everything else aside and live in the moment, generating focus.
Improves motor skills
We encourage young children to colour as it develops motor skills. It doesn’t make sense to stop developing those skills as adults just as we would with any expertise.
Improves sleep
We are all encouraged to limit our electronic device time to aid with sleep Exposure to the emitted light reduces your levels of the sleep hormone, melatonin. Colouring is a relaxing and electronic-free bedtime ritual that won’t disturb your level of melatonin.
It’s an effective form of art therapy
Art therapy is defined as “a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by the art therapist, use art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork to explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behaviour and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem.”
Additional benefits of colouring for children
Along with health benefits that adults can take advantage of children can also profit from an additional creative influx.
Other benefits include preparing them for school, contributing to better handwriting, colour and spatial awareness.
Most importantly it is a wonderful form of self expression.
Why create colouring sheets from your own photos?
We use photographs as an anchor for our memories. Sharing photos of family experiences with our children is a wonderful activity in itself but combining that with colouring multiples the benefits.
What sort of photos to choose?
Photos with happy memories of a family day out or parties with friends are fantastic choices. I honestly find the best person to guide this choice is the child. Once you have created a few colouring sheets and see what works best then there’s no reason why you can’t take photos specifically for the purpose of creating colouring sheets.
How to create colouring sheets
Start off by downloading the app Insta Toon. There are many other apps like this so if you can’t get Insta Toon on your device search for apps that turn photos into drawings.
- Open your chosen photo in Insta Toon.
- Choose the Pen drawing effect.
- Make adjustments using the Outline settings
- Export as JPG and print.
