What Are the Best Tips for Making Coloring Pages?

Creating coloring pages at home or in school classrooms can be a fun way to entertain and bond with a child. There are various tips that will make the final product more visually appealing and easy to color. For instance, use durable, child-friendly paper, thick outlines, and a creative, appealing design or picture. The children may also enjoy being a part of the design process, either requesting specific pictures or actually helping to draw the pictures themselves.

Use thick paper that will be resistant to a child using markers, colored pencils, or crayons. The paper should be durable enough that ink from markers will not bleed through and vigorous coloring will not cause tearing. If very young children will be coloring the pages, use child-safe paper that will not cause injury or harm if swallowed. When drawing the designs or pictures by hand, sketch first with a pencil and then go back over the drawings with a dark marker that will make edges stand out and be clear and easy to follow. When using a computer program, use thick, dark lines to create outlines of the picture or design and use print previews to make sure the entire design will fit on one page and appear as intended.

Depending on the age of the person who will color the finished coloring pages, use designs and pictures that are age appropriate and at the right difficulty level. More complicated designs might frustrate a younger child still struggling to color inside the lines, while older children might be bored by coloring pages that are too simple. Other coloring pages and coloring books can be used for ideas of what designs to draw. Tracing already existing coloring pages may be a good idea for those lacking drawing skills, as long as the homemade coloring pages are just for home use and will not be distributed or sold.

When designing coloring pages for children of varying ages and both genders, geometric designs can be a good compromise between pictures that would suit each child's content preference. Tracing overlapping outlines of household objects such as coffee cans, coins, and small boxes can create simple or challenging designs depending on how many outlines are used per picture. Having the children create their own coloring pages is also a potential way to fuel creativity and encourage self-expression while at the same time keeping them entertained.