Are you looking for fun activities to foster the creative spirit of your kids? Coloring books are a great way to introduce kids to art. They build creativity, motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. There are several educational benefits that coloring books provide as they spark an interest in kids to learn with their fun activities!
With so many things to consider, it may be challenging to pick the right book. Read our buying guide section to assist you in choosing a coloring book. To help you start, begin with our top pick: My First Big Book of Coloring by Little Bee Books. This is a great book to start with as it has creative yet simple designs that will attract your kids! The thick borders and large coloring spaces will also give your kids an easy and fun time coloring!
Quick List - Top Coloring Books For Kids
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Coloring books are great materials to help kids recognize colors and develop their hand-eye coordination skills. There are also books that cater to different kinds of coloring tools. Some include activities that teach kids subjects such as math, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.
Parents surely want to pick the best coloring books for their children. So, here is a guide to help you choose the right coloring book!
Children are drawn to vibrant colors, so we recommend coloring materials with strong pigments. There are many types of materials to choose from!
At around 15 months old, many kids start to scribble. Crayons are great for this as they are simple to use and easy to carry around. They are also good for coloring large spaces. Make sure to get a coloring book with sturdy pages that do not easily tear as kids tend to get carried away when they are scribbling or coloring!
Markers have a more defined and bold look. They have a smoother feel when coloring, but they tend to bleed onto the pages underneath. To mitigate this, look for coloring books with thick paper, one with pages that aren’t double-sided, or coloring books that specifically say they’re good for markers.
Watercolor has always been enjoyable as kids can watch colors mix. Its versatility and the feel of the paintbrush when painting help relax kids. Watercolor requires specific paper for the pictures to look nice, so look for watercolor-specific coloring books.
Around the age of three, children may start to prefer coloring materials that allow them to create finer details. As such, look for coloring books with more detail if your child wants to use colored pencils. Pictures with large spaces will be hard for them to fill in completely.
Coloring books have different types of bindings, each with its unique uses. Make sure that to get a coloring book with a binding that would be convenient for your kids' coloring activities!
This kind of binding is made up of folded pages bound together by staples. This is great for coloring books that have a low page count as it allows the book to lie flat on a table surface.
Perfect binding means that the pages are bound with a strong and flexible glue at the spine. Books with this binding do not usually lay flat on the table and sometimes require you to hold the book open. But this is one of the more durable bindings you can find.
For thicker books, spiral-binding is a better choice as it allows for easy movement and the book to always lie flat when coloring. The spirals add sturdiness to the binding, and should you choose, you also have the option to tear away pages cleanly to display the finished work.
Sometimes, bindings can be a hindrance if they don’t allow the book to lie flat. Getting loose pages is a great idea for water coloring books, so the paint does not soak through and affect the other pages.
There are coloring books that have additional lessons that accompany the coloring activities. These are fun and creative ways to teach kids different subjects!
There are coloring books that offer lessons on spelling and vocabulary. Coloring books will help with your child’s retention because of the illustrations and practical application when they color the images. This is a great way to teach your kids without them knowing they're learning!
Some books include lessons in math like counting from number one to 20, or doing simple addition and subtraction. There are books that include activities that make children color by the order of the numbers.
This is a fun way for kids to learn simple mathematics and will encourage them to learn more in the process.
Some coloring books have a story to accompany them. These stories could be simple fairy tales, like Little Red Riding Hood, or popular animated movies, like Frozen, that have become famous in recent years.
This is great for kids because they will recognize characters and can actively participate in the storytelling of the coloring book.
There are some coloring books that provide their own coloring materials. This will be helpful if you do not have coloring materials at hand.
Other books also include stickers that match the theme of the book. These will be great if you notice that your kids love stickers and colorful pictures. The fun illustrations combined with these stickers will make your kids enjoy these kinds of coloring books even more!
Products | Image | Click to purchase | Key features | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Little Bee Books My First Big Book of Coloring | ![]() | A Creative and Simple Coloring Book | |
2 | Salmon Sally 123 Things Big and Jumbo Coloring Book | ![]() | Giant-Sized Images for a Coloring Adventure | |
3 | Melissa & Doug Water Wow!|3 pack | ![]() | A Unique Watercoloring Experience | |
4 | Melissa & Doug ABC 123 Dot-to-Dot Coloring Pad | ![]() | A Connect-the-Dots Coloring Book | |
5 | JD Evers, Boys Colouring Books The Ultimate Coloring Book for Boys and Girls | ![]() | A Blend of Fantasy and Sci-Fi Characters | |
6 | New Seasons Sticker by Letter: Totally Cool! | ![]() | An Engaging Sticker Book | |
7 | Two Hoots Coloring Dinosaur Coloring Book | ![]() | A Dinosaur-Filled Fun Coloring Book | |
8 | Hopscotch Girls I am Confident, Brave & Beautiful | ![]() | A Special Coloring Book for Girls | |
9 | Silly Bear Unicorn Coloring Book | ![]() | A Unicorn-Themed Coloring Book | |
10 | Blue Wave Press Space Coloring Books for Kids | ![]() | An Outer Space Coloring Adventure |
This coloring book is filled with large pictures which make it easy for little kids to color. With animals, flowers, transportation, and even aliens, this book has pictures that will catch kids' attention!
Some parents said the thickness of the book was difficult for children to hold down and wish the book came with loose pages instead. It does come in a spiral-bound version, though.
However, reviewers agreed that the large-sized images made coloring enjoyable. The coloring activities were also simple enough for the kids and it was generally agreed that this was a great starter for coloring books!
This coloring book includes large designs that will keep your child entertained. It has animals, fruits, vegetables, and transportation for its coloring activities. The images don't have many small details, so little kids will find the big spaces easier to color.
Parents wished the book was bound in a way that the book would lie flat as it was a hindrance for kids when they were coloring.
But parents praised this book for its simple design and said their kids enjoyed it. Details can be a little overwhelming for kids but parents said this book keeps it simple, which encouraged their kids to try out the coloring activities.
This set provides a creative way to color. It has a refillable water pen with a brush tip and a coloring notebook with four reusable sheets. It works by filling the pen with water and using the brush to practice painting strokes on the pad. Color magically appears on the sheets.
Some customers complained that the pen leaks water when not kept upright. They also mentioned that when the pages get soaked through, they tend to tear and are prone to scratches, making this somewhat disposable.
Parents praised this coloring book for being a great preparation for painting as kids get to practice their motor skills with the book's activities. They also loved that there are no leftover stains after coloring and it is easy to clean up afterward.
This book features wild animals as its theme. It teaches kids to count as they have to connect the dots from either A to Z or one to 50 to form the picture, then they get to color the pictures they have formed. The difficulty increases per page and serves as a great exercise for little ones!
Generally, parents loved this book for their young kids. They enjoyed the extra search-and-find activity that they got to do with their kids. They praised the book for spacing the numbers and letters in a legible way which helped the kids practice their ABCs and 123s!
This includes a lot of fun characters and designs, like fantastical creatures, robots, and ninjas. It has designs that will appeal to all kinds of kids and they will be easily entertained by the unique pictures they will get to color.
Reviewers mentioned that the pages are thin, allowing markers to bleed through. Parents praised this book for entertaining kids with its eye-catching designs. They also loved the assortment of pictures that includes several kinds of characters that their kids loved.
This book combines sticker activities with letters to teach kids how to match! It includes various designs from food to animals to people. It is spiral bound, which makes it easy for kids to do the coloring activities on the pages.
However, some parents said that the book is easily finished and takes less than a day for their kids to complete it. They wished there were more activities and pictures included in the book.
Parents praised this book for the sticker quality as they do not easily tear. They can also be peeled off easily when their kids make a mistake and can be stuck again on the page. They found that their kids enjoyed the book because of the designs, the glitter stickers, and the game of matching letters.
This book is filled with many types of dinosaurs that dinosaur-loving kids would enjoy. They would also get to color backdrops of volcanoes, comets, and mountains. The book is single-sided to prevent ink from bleeding through.
Parents said that they loved the design of the book. They liked the dark borders which helped kids easily color inside the lines. They also love the variety in the level of detail, which are not too simple and at the same time not too complex.
This book explores inspiring confidence in young girls. It has themes of character, imagination, and bravery. It includes 22 illustrations that kids will enjoy. Its theme also sets it apart from most coloring books out there.
Reviewers commented that markers or watercolor are not recommended for this book, since the pages are double-sided. Parents loved the optimistic message and liked the words of affirmation that are found in the pages of the book to motivate young girls. They also loved the diverse collection of pictures.
This is a great book for kids who love unicorn designs. It includes child-friendly backdrops of rainbows, castles, and stars. There are 50 images on single-sided pages. It's also available in spiral-bound.
Some reviewers said that the images have some smaller areas that may be hard for younger kids with still-developing motor skills.
Parents said that their kids found the designs cute and adorable. They also loved the simplicity of the drawings which did not overwhelm the kids with detail. They also liked that the pictures were easy to color and that the kids enjoyed browsing through.
This book gives an out-of-this-world adventure for kids. It has drawings of aliens, rockets, stars, and planets. It also has an easy tear-out feature which will allow you to separate pages that have been finished.
Some stated that it was still difficult to tear out the pages. Other parents also wanted more information on the solar system for a learning experience.
But reviewers generally liked the design of the book. Parents mentioned that it caught the attention of their kids. They appreciated the easy pictures that gave their kids a fun time coloring the book. This is great for kids and parents who love outer space!
Are you looking for coloring materials to go along with your coloring books? Do you want more art products to spark your kids' creativity? Check out our other articles to find the right stuff!
No. 1: Little Bee Books|My First Big Book of Coloring
No. 2: Salmon Sally|123 Things Big and Jumbo Coloring Book
No. 3: Melissa & Doug|Water Wow!|3 pack
No. 4: Melissa & Doug|ABC 123 Dot-to-Dot Coloring Pad
No. 5: JD Evers, Boys Colouring Books|The Ultimate Coloring Book for Boys and Girls
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