As a child, I used to sit on the floor and colour in my colouring books on the coffee table most weekend mornings, if not throughout the day. I loved being able to make things whatever colours I wanted to, and the way I could so easily take something as boring as a blank page with a few outlines on it to a colourful one.
Now, I still love colouring, but I use the practice in a slightly different way. Check out the list of 5 Reasons to Add Colouring Books to your Self-Care Toolkit, below:
- There’s no multi-tasking
Unless you’re listening to music, it’s difficult to do anything at the same time as you’re colouring. This is a good thing! Colouring can exercise your “focus muscle” - It’s just for you
You don’t need to share your colouring pages with anyone else.
- You can colour your own world
Make things whatever colour you want to. - You get thinking time
Because it’s hard to multitask when you’re colouring, you get plenty of time to think through things. - There’s active participation
Rather than watching TV, which is a pretty passive activity, colouring in a colouring book is much more active.
I asked my partner if he’d like to colour with me, sometime. He said: “yes, as long as I can colour outside the lines.” It’s like he knew I just got this new colouring book: Outside the Lines, Too, curated by Souris Hong. 🙂
Going back to #2 on my list, above: colouring is just for you (even if you’re doing it along with someone else). Colour outside the lines, make dogs blue and the sky neon green, colour polka dots on houses—do whatever you want!
Souris Hong curated Outside the Lines, Too: An Inspired and Inventive Coloring Book by Creative Masterminds with a range of illustrations that allow you to colour just what you want. Here are two examples, below, of different pages in the book:
The pages of this colouring book are classic—thin and newspaper-y. I’d recommend using crayons or coloured pencils, like I’m using below:
Check out Outside the Lines, Too: An Inspired and Inventive Coloring Book by Creative Masterminds, which I was sent to write this feature. It makes a great gift (anytime of the year) for yourself or your loved ones.
