Parenting & Creativity

Your part in it

How much to praise, when to help, what to do with the ninth drawing of the day, and how to react when a child declares their own work bad. The hard part of creative play is usually the adult's.

41 articles

A child's hands hold up a coloring page of a city bus, colored red with crayon, at a bus stop on an early autumn morning, while a real red bus with its headlights on approaches out of focus behind it.

School bus coloring pages for the kid who waits at the window

One school morning from the window to the bus stop and back, with a page for each place and a small job for your child at every stop.

8 min read

A crayon-coloured balloon-bunch coloring page pegged on a string line on a pale wall, with three coloured paper balloons lifted out of the sheet and floating above it, and two real red and yellow balloons tied to a wooden chair.

A coloring table at a kids' birthday party that runs itself

A how-to for the first half hour of a party at home: one table, three zones, pages printed to the theme, and a peg line that ends as the goodbye.

5 min read

A folded paper card colored in crayon with a green chalkboard on an easel and a red apple stands on a wooden desk in an empty classroom, next to a real apple and four crayons.

Teacher appreciation coloring pages, folded into a card the teacher keeps

Five questions a child asks before World Teachers' Day, answered with pages that fold into a card and leave room for a name in their own handwriting.

4 min read

A small child in a blue knitted jumper holds out a crayon-coloured fish page with every scale a different colour, in a kindergarten cloakroom with jackets on wooden hooks behind.

What to say when your child hands you a finished coloring page

A question and answer guide to the moment a child hands you a page: why praise wears out, what to say instead, and ready lines for the hard pages.

5 min read

A candid landscape lifestyle photograph of a quiet evening at a kitchen table. From just behind a young child’s shoulder, show the child carefully drawing a grandmother into the empty space beside two

Family coloring pages, and the people your child draws in

A five-step project for the evening your child notices the family on the page looks nothing like theirs, and fixes it with a pencil.

4 min read

A child's hands hold a sheet of paper up against a bright window, showing a crayon drawing of an adult elephant with a smaller calf beside it, colored in grey and blue.

Elephant coloring pages for the kid who is about to be the big one

The herd's own story, told in pages: the long wait, the night the calf arrives, and the job the older one gets on the morning after.

4 min read

A cozy blanket-and-cushion fort by a large rain-streaked window, warm string lights, a child's coloring pages and crayons and colored pencils spread on a soft rug inside, a mug of cocoa, golden aftern

What to do with kids on a rainy day, before the tablet comes out

The tablet is the easy answer on a wet afternoon. Here is a calmer one: low-prep, screen-free activities matched to your kid's age and mood.

6 min read

Bright flat-lay photographed from directly above: a printed coloring page of a flower partly filled in with bold non-realistic colors, next to a blank white sheet showing a young child's colorful free

Coloring inside the lines won't limit creativity, but one habit can

Coloring books have been accused of squashing creativity since 1947. The truth is more useful, and it comes down to how you offer them.

6 min read

Overhead flat lay of four children's coloring pages arranged left to right from a very simple bold single-shape outline to an intricate detailed design, each page partly colored, a chunky crayon resti

Best coloring tools by age, from the first fist grip to fine detail

The best coloring tool matches your child grip and patience today. Here is what to hand each age, and what to save for later.

6 min read

An editorial flat-lay seen from above of several children coloring pages arranged in a row, from a big simple outline shape on the left to a slightly more detailed picture on the right, a couple of ch

When your child refuses to color, change the setup before you change your mind

A child who refuses to color is usually telling you the task feels too hard or too rigid. Small changes to the setup do more than any amount of coaxing.

6 min read

A short loose stack of simple black line-art coloring pages fanned out on a pale wooden floor beside a small woven basket and a few chunky crayons, the top page showing one big simple flower, the page

A calm down corner works when it asks almost nothing of your child

Most calm down corner lists say to add a coloring book. The page you choose is the part that decides whether the corner gets used at all.

7 min read

A giraffe pushing a shopping trolley down a supermarket aisle, its neck bent right over under the ceiling, trolley piled high with groceries, painterly childrens book illustration, warm and completely

Funny coloring page ideas start with one broken rule

A breakdancing dinosaur is not a distraction, it is how kids think. Why the best silly ideas break one rule, plus twelve to steal.

5 min read