A Truly Easy and non-messy Way to Keep Kids Busy

The other day I picked my daughter up from preschool and when I got there, she was quietly coloring a castle.  I told her it looked beautiful and her teacher said, "Yes, she's been working on it for a really long time!"

I was a little shocked to hear this because normally at home I can't pay her to color with crayons.  We have dozens of coloring books around the house and she doesn't give them a second glance.  So, it occurred to me that maybe she would like to have a single sheet of paper instead of a whole book.  Thus, began a little experiment of mine.  I set out to find some free pages I could print and give to her.  Much to my surprise and delight, she loved this idea!  One afternoon we went into the office and I showed her various sites with coloring pages and she helped me pick out what she wanted.  Of course, she was thrilled about coloring Tinkerbell, Ariel, Strawberry Shortcake, etc.  We organized all her favorite pages into a big folder with her name on it, and her little brother got one too.

Coloring is such an easy, non-messy way to keep the kids busy and I'm thrilled to now be able to join the rest of society with a child who enjoys coloring!  It's amazing to me how one little change like that can affect the enjoyment of a project.  Think about it.  She is basically coloring the same thing.  Only now it's a single sheet of paper.  Yet she is thrilled.  Kids sure are strange.  In any case, I did find some good sites for free printables if you want to give it a shot:

Crayola
They do have some coloring pages, including some Disney-themed characters, but I found their site to be slow and a little difficult to navigate.
Coloring Castle
This page had mostly generic things like castles and unicorns, but was very easy to navigate and print

Educational Coloring Pages
This was by far my favorite.  They had every character you could imagine, both for boys and girls, and it was also very easy to navigate and print.  However, my tip is to make sure to click their printer button instead of the one on your browser or it doesn't print right. Here were some of our favorites from this site:

• Strawberry Shortcake
• Tinkerbell
• Little Mermaid

Even Little Buddy (2) enjoyed all the coloring pages!!


If you need more easy crafts like these, please consider buying my book!  I co-wrote it with former Kindergarten Teacher and best-selling author, Susan Case.  We worked together to give both a Mom and a Teacher perspective and we give hundreds of ideas on ways to keep your kids busy, but in a productive way, so that they're actually learning while you cook dinner in peace! Here is what a reader wrote after she purchased our book:

I'm about halfway through your book, and it's a true gem in my quest to figure out how to yell less and enjoy my boys more. I'm glad I found your blog. ~ Prickly Mom

You can purchase a copy on Amazon or B&N.  The Kindle version is $3.99 and the Paperback is $9.99.  Thanks so much for your support!





Now wait!!  Before you leave, will you vote for me pretty please?  I would sooooo appreciate your support!!



Thanks to the following bloggers for their ideas on this!  These ladies all have great sites!

Creative Family Fun
Make Do and Friend
Creative Play House
Jamie's Jumble
Hands on as We Grow

Want to see all my posts?  Put your email address here to become a subscriber!

Enter your email address:

Blog Gadgets