coloring books?

[hillaryb]

Dd is almost 16 months and just starting to be able to use her crayons. I haven't started "hunting" but in my errand travels, I haven't seen many coloring books. Any one have a good place to get some?

Also, as a kid, I loved the "paint" books that you just had to "paint" with a wet paint brush...the coloring was already on the book. Do they still make those?

Any other ideas for arts projects that won't destroy the house?

[overcome]

Also, as a kid, I loved the "paint" books that you just had to "paint" with a wet paint brush...the coloring was already on the book. Do they still make those?


My mom bought one for DD but it was really lame. The paint was not very bright. Could have just been the particular book she chose. Maybe there are better ones out there.

Check out this phenomenal book
http://www.amazon.com/First-Art-Experiences-Toddlers-Twos/dp/0876592221/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233624673&sr=8-1

Has wonderful ideas.

In lieu of a coloring book, you could go to Noggin and print out coloring pages from almost any of the shows.

I'm snobby....I don't like coloring books. I'd rather give DD a blank piece of paper and let her go to town.

ETA I highly recommend the triangular shaped crayons made by Crayola. And I will ONLY purchase washable crayons.

GL!

[elliput]

I found some inexpensive coloring books in the book section at Target. A good friend found some nice ones at Dollar Tree.

Crayola.com (http://www.crayola.com/) has free printable coloring pages, as does Fisher-Price (http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=30&e=coloring).

[Fairy]

I'm also having a hard time finding a good variety of coloring books like we had as kids. Lots of websites have coloring pages you can print out, but good old traditional coloring books? There are some, but not a huge selection. I just don't get it. Maybe with today's array of "color wonder" technoogy and the like, they're not investing as much in manufacturing traditional coloring books. I also used to love the paint with water books, but the color wonder seems to ahve replaced alot of that.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

I got a cheap-o one at Joanns. Try a $1 one, before you spend a bunch of money. I second, or third the coloring pages you can print out. I use coloring books for restaurants only. Crayon Rocks (http://www.crayonrocks.net/) are great a bit pricier, but awesome! I am a Vegetarian, and they don't have animal ingredients like most do. They are so easy to hold, too.

[citymama]

I'm snobby....I don't like coloring books. I'd rather give DD a blank piece of paper and let her go to town.

ETA I highly recommend the triangular shaped crayons made by Crayola. And I will ONLY purchase washable crayons.

GL!

ITA with the first point. At that young age especially, a blank sheet of paper (or many!) is IMO the best way to go. Pick up a blank notepad or coloring sheets at Target, or just re-use white computer paper that's been used on one side. We have a big stack of these and just hand them to almost 3 yr old DD with crayons or coloring pencils (or her fave, markers) and let her go wild. We bought her first actual coloring book at about 2, for a trip we took, but she still gets impatient at not being able to color like we do (made the mistake of coloring something in to show her - doh!).

I also agree that washable is essential - I like the thicker washable crayons more than the triangular ones, and love the Pipsqeaks washable markers. Makes them soooo happy to make those bold lines and squiggles!

ETA I remember those "coloring" books that you paint with water - would love to find them! I think 3 is a better age for paintbrush use, given the fine motor skills involved.

[sariana]

My MIL told me she never bought coloring books for her DD (my SIL) because she wanted her to be more creative with blank paper. Well, SIL nearly failed kindergarten because she couldn't color within the lines for lack of practice. I guess this wouldn't be a problem today, though, as kinder now consists of learning SAT words and such.:rolleye0014:

[ljackson]

I have a couple of coloring books from the dollar store that DD likes just fine. Another thing that she loves is having a notebook to draw in. I got one for her when we travelled 6 months ago just as a way of taking lots of paper with us for her to draw on on the plane etc. She is still using the same one and loves looking through it to see the things that other people have drawn and written for her, as well as her own creations. She will still talk about who drew what for her, which is cute as we were traveling to see family a long way away who we don't see often.

[vonfirmath]

Can really young kids keep their coloring on a 8.5x11 sheet of paper? I've been trying to find larger paper for my 18-month old to start on.

[wendibird22]

DD (18mos) does pretty well keeping the crayons on the paper. She colors at her Step 2 picnic table and if the crayon does stray off the paper it wipes up really easy with a baby wipe. We just sit with her while she colors and remind her occasionally to color on the paper.

[KrisM]

Can really young kids keep their coloring on a 8.5x11 sheet of paper? I've been trying to find larger paper for my 18-month old to start on.

Either tape in inside a cookie sheet or something similar or make sure you have washable crayons :).

For bigger paper, I get packing paper at Home Depot. It's 10lbs of paper for about $9. The sheets are maybe 36x36 or so.

[KrisM]

I get coloring books at Walgreens a lot. They are often on sale and they have quite a few.

[basilicali]

Dollar Tree has a huge selection including disney, strawberry shortcake, spiderman and tons of generic animal ones if you don't like the branded kind.

I think for party favors for DD's preschool birthday this year I am going to just pick up a selection of these! I still have a large collection of cheap crayons from last yrs back to school deals.

[octmom]

I read something yesterday, I think on Parent Hacks, about using Google images to get printable coloring pages of almost anything. Enter your search term, use the Advanced Search and choose "line drawings". Pretty neat idea.

[clb]

In the bargains alert, the toddler/baby freebies sticky has many links to free printable coloring pages.

I found nice fisher price coloring books for $1 recently at a $5 and under type of store.

My DS is 16mo. He does well coloring in a coloring book while sitting in his high chair. I leave the tray on and put the book on the tray. With a sheet of paper the paper tends to slide around and he gets crayon all over the tray. I hadn't thought of taping the paper down, but I think he would just rip it off.