TIPS AND ACTIVITIES FOR ALL THOSE COMPLETED COLOURING SHEETS
It’s a teachers’ nightmare to see all those loose scraps of paper in the tidy box.
I would make my kids glue in every loose sheet in a scrapbook … I would even go and purchase 28 scrapbooks myself so each child would have a ‘finished sheets folder’ to glue their work into. I was one of those neat freak teachers that wanted students to have their desks, their areas, and their books presented neatly and tidy. All. The. Time!!
There are also a heap of crafty activities that kids can use their colouring in pages for after they are finished.
GIFT WRAP – Colouring in sheets can very easily be trimmed and used as wrapping paper for small presents. Alternately, kids can draw and colour their own designs on large rolls of butcher’s paper or packing paper to make custom wrapping paper.
CARDS – Colouring in sheets are the perfect way for children to create a personalised card for somebody. Holiday themed colouring sheets transform into cards easily, but anything can turn into a beautiful design for a card. To make the card nice and strong, the kids can glue the completed sheet to a piece of card before folding it into shape. They can then write a personalised message to someone on the inside.
BOOK MARKS and BOOK COVERS – Colouring in pages cut into strips and glued to cardboard make easy book marks. The pages can also be used to create decorative covers for work books.
DECORATIONS – Colouring in sheets can be used to make unique decorations for the classroom, or for a special event. Sheets cut into strips can be used to make simple paper chains. Colouring in sheets can be also be used by older kids to create 3D paper ornaments
MOBILE – Making a mobile is a good way to repurpose a few different colouring in sheets. It’s a little bit more involved than some of the other options, but it is still relatively simple. All you need is one large central picture, a few smaller pictures that match, some cardboard, some ribbon or string, and a hole punch. To strengthen the central picture back it with cardboard. Punch a hole in the top of each small picture, and a matching hole at the bottom of the central picture. When all the holes are punched, you connect the small pictures to the central pictures with ribbon or string.
DECOUPAGE – If you’re willing to risk a little mess, basic decoupage can be a fun use of completed colouring in sheets. Just about anything can be used, but simple shapes like photo frames are easiest. Use wood glue to stick cut out pictures or patterns from the colouring sheet to the frame. Let it dry, then use a coat or two of the wood glue to ‘varnish’ the frame. Once it’s dry, it’s ready for your favourite photo. Or maybe even your favourite coloured in picture.
WALLPAPER – If the colouring sheet has a repeating geometric design, you can trim off the edges and pin it to the wall edge to edge to create a ‘wallpaper’ effect. There are also a bunch of really cool wallpapers and wall stickers that are designed to be coloured in which could make an awesome and unique colouring class project.
Colouring in pages can be repurposed for any paper craft that you or your kids might be interested in (like origami). This list contains some of the easiest ones to do in a classroom environment. But if you have a small class or older kids there are an infinite number of cool and creative things that you can do with colouring in sheets after they are complete; the only limit is your imagination.
If you have any further ideas about what to do with all those colouring sheets left in tidy boxes or chair bags, please comment below as you never know how far reaching your hot tip can go to help other teachers and parents with new ways to store all those masterpieces from students and our children.
Keep Shining Brightly,