Coloring Books and Drawing Books

Greetings!

I am sure you are aware of the increase in popularity of coloring books. It seems that most magazines I get have a coloring page and coloring books for adults are everywhere. We have so much technology at our fingertips and I even find myself playing on my phone when I don’t really need to be on it. I can see how defaulting to a coloring book is something to do with my hands rather than playing on my phone.

Coloring books are not really ‘library materials’, but I bought one last year planning to make copies to hand out to the students. I read the copyright information and learned that I was not allowed to make copies, so decided to put it in the library and allow students to actually color in it! I have a note in the front that tells them they can color a page and when they are finished, they should put their name and the date in it. It has been relatively popular and is often checked out.

Some of the benefits of drawing and coloring include improved motor skills, stimulates creativity, better handwriting, improves focus and hand to eye coordination, stimulates self-expression, and helps stress relief.

Take a look in your library or classroom. Do you have any of the new coloring books or drawing books? If not, why not add some? You can bet that they will be checked out and used often.

Have a great week.

Audrey