Even the most studious of children in elementary school need a break to do something fun. It is difficult to remember just how difficult it was to be a young student. You probably were always thinking about how hard it was to sit inside when you could be outside playing on the playground. It is natural for young children to have a short attention span. Kids have more energy than adults do and they are far more interested in the world than we are. This does not mean that they enjoy learning things from books more than adults do, but it does mean that their attention shifts a lot because there is always something new to discover.
What this means for a teacher or a parent is that they need to make learning fun. It also means that you need to give kids breaks to recreate and enjoy themselves. There are some great crafts that can both help the children to learn and give them a break from the typical rigours of math, science, or English. If you want to make learning more fun and more vibrant consider trying some coloring crafts. Described below are some of the best fun crafts that will give your class a break and help them to learn something new.
1. Simply coloring is never fun for kids. Elementary aged children are most interested in coloring things that interest them personally. This means that you need to provide coloring books for each child that express something about the child’s interests. Do they like superheros or plants? Make sure that you know enough about the students to provide them with coloring materials that will enthrall them. Everyday give the kids ten or twenty minutes to color in their respective coloring books.
2. Obtain a large printout of a famous work of art or picture. Make sure that the image is so large that it covers multiple sheets of paper. Cut up the paper so that the subject of the image is unclear given that each paper only contains a small part of it. Distribute the paper to each child and ask them to color it in whatever way they like. Ask them to try to figure out what the overall image is if they can. When all of the children have finished coloring their pages collect them and put them together to complete the image. The completed project will be a wacky but fun collection of colors.
3. Printout a life sized drawing of a piece of clothing. Cut up the image into parts such as the sleeves, cuffs, legs, and collar. Distribute these parts to the kids and have them color them in whatever fashion they desire. Allow the kids to draw any designs or write anything they like on the clothing. Assemble the clothing and take a look at the crazy combinations of colors. If you like, attach the clothing to one of the kid’s normal clothes. The finished product can be a hilarious suit of many colors.
As you can see, there are all sorts of different fun coloring crafts you can do with elementary aged children. With some creative brainstorming you can come up with your own crafts. Experiment with different crafts and see what works best with your group of kids. In time your students will start asking for the opportunity to do coloring activities. If you can associate these activities with learning you will have done the students a great favor. They will think that class is fun and they will start to think that learning is fun.