Children’s skills during their early developmental stages are something parents would often be concerned about. Some of those skills, which are very crucial, are handwriting skills. There are many ways a child can develop handwriting skills, but there is no doubt that coloring is an excellent activity for teaching and instilling those skills in children in a fun and exciting way.
Coloring is not merely a leisurely activity for kids. Although just a simple activity that is done with just a set of crayons and coloring books, coloring can help foster several skills that kids need in life. It is a fundamental activity in the early stages of a child’s life that can hone many skills that are important for educational and personal development during childhood.
At first, a child may exceed the lines of pictures when coloring. That is normal, as the hand muscles needed in coloring and their control over those muscles as well as the coordination of their hand and eyes are not much developed yet. But when children color more often, they become more improved in those areas.
The more a kid engages in coloring, parents will notice the improvement of the particular skills needed in handwriting. So parents must encourage their children to do this activity for better handwriting. Even better if they provide as many coloring books that their child can color.
Moreover, this entertaining, developmental activity is no fuss at all and is even helpful for parents when it comes to keeping a child busy to have time for them to do things away from the child and even during travels. There is not much preparation for it. You just have to supply the coloring books and crayons for your kid, which are just very affordable and available in many stores or online. The materials can even be easily stored for travel. And parents get the benefit of having free time away from kids.
The Handwriting Skills That Coloring Develops and How
Developing a child’s handwriting skills is only one of coloring’s many benefits. But this time, this article will be focusing on how it develops handwriting skills. Below, you can read the different handwriting skills coloring can develop how they are developed.
Fine Motor Skills
When kids color images, the muscles used in their fingers, hands, and wrists get exercised. As they try to firmly grip on their crayons and move them around the spaces they’re coloring, those muscles are strengthened. And that helps in developing their fine motor skills.
Through coloring, they get to be trained on how to grasp a crayon and how to control their hand movements as they color. The more they get to practice that through coloring, the more their dexterity is enhanced. Their coloring will also become neater with colors staying within the lines, as the strength and control in their hands are improved.
All the practice they would get from coloring with their crayons would make them more prepared to use the pencil for writing. They would be able to hold the pencil and form letters with ease.
Hand-Eye Coordination
Coloring would involve many tasks. And those tasks can aid in the development of hand-eye coordination. From selecting what crayon color to use from the box of crayons, to holding the crayons, to applying the colors with crayons, to trying to stay within the lines when coloring, to flipping the pages of the coloring book, and even down to sharpening the crayons when they have become dull.
As this skill is practiced every time children color, the more it will be enhanced. Then the better will be the results of their coloring. Soon enough, they’ll be able to get the hang of writing as well.
Attention Span and Concentration
Children would often get easily distracted. But over time, they would eventually be able to concentrate for longer periods, especially when their concentration is practiced. An engaging activity such as coloring can help with that.
Coloring is an activity that would take a while to do and would involve a lot of concentration to finish. When they start to color a page, they would become focused on the picture. First, they would think of what colors to use on the different parts of the picture. Then they would carefully apply the colors on the spaces with their crayons and try not to go past the lines. In doing so, they become engrossed in the activity, that their concentration is practiced.
Muscle Endurance
As the muscles that children use in coloring are strengthened as they color, the endurance of those muscles also gets to be improved. The more that children color, the more those muscles gain endurance. And the endurance developed in those muscles would make them more capable to complete writing tasks.
Sometimes there would be a tendency that out of much engagement in coloring, kids would express the exhaustion they would feel in their hands. The hand fatigue that they experience may be resolved with some rest. But doing coloring more often will result in a boost in endurance that will come in handy in writing.
A Confidence Boost That Aids in Handwriting
Coloring allows the opportunity for gaining self-confidence. It is an activity that provides kids the chance to do something successfully. Children would think well of and work hard on their coloring pages to make the pictures look beautiful. And their successfully finished work in their coloring book is something they would be proud of.
Parents can also help boost their child’s confidence by acknowledging their child’s job well done, complimenting their work, and even displaying it on their wall or sticking it on the fridge. Finally finishing coloring pages and seeing the result of their efforts give children a sense of accomplishment and make them feel they are capable of doing any other task, like writing. They would believe in their capabilities, which started from coloring with crayons to writing with a pencil.
Conclusion
Coloring really does help in preparing little kids’ hands for writing. With all the skills necessary in writing that it can develop, it would make learning how to write easier and more fun for kids. So let your kid color as often as they can. Buy them as many coloring books that they can enjoy for more developmental fun.
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