Children are instinctively imaginative, creative and abstract thinkers. However, although there is a genetic component behind creativity in children, it is predominantly fostered by their environment and upbringing. Starting at a young age, it is important to adopt an active parenting style in regards to creativity as much as possible in order to create an environment in which children can express themselves and develop creative skills. When nurtured effectively, this can develop into lifelong creativity as well as an increased capacity to challenge the world, ask questions and make discoveries.

As we know, when attempting to foster a long lasting skill or habit – consistency is the most crucial component. With this being said, it can become increasingly time consuming to set up creative activities and tasks each and every day. That’s where we come in! We’ve put together a list of some of our favorite coloring books for children available online. Simply drawing, sketching or coloring in is an ideal activity to engage your child in, serving as a great way to stimulate creativity. With repeated encouragement on your end, you child will be able to practice and develop their creative skills, develop fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.

For more on the importance of creativity in children you can check out our article. This piece dives into the importance of creativity during the formative years, a little bit about the science behind it as well as provides some tips and tricks on how to encourage creativity in the daily activities of children. As an added resource, you can also check out the 5 creative coloring tips for children article, a guide for parents trying to set their children on a path of creativity and art!

Let’s dive into some of our favorite coloring books available online!

Cute Animals Coloring Book

Richard Eijkenbroek: Xquissive          

The Cute Animals Coloring Book coloring book has been created with creativity of children in mind by us. By carrying out regular creative practices, children can develop artistic motivation, stimulate their imagination and become increasingly inventive! As a bonus: learning to color within the lines will help to further develop the fine motor skills of your child.

This incredibly unique children’s book is packed with over 30 cute illustrated animals and 4 bonus illustrations. With over 60 pages, hours of drawing and coloring fun are guaranteed. Children will learn to recognize each animal, practice their coloring on a smaller illustration, as well as add their own personal details. There is also a practice box, where children can try to redraw the image themselves – either by tracing it, or drawing out their own lines. Included is a huge full-sized coloring page for each cute animal. Coloring and developing creative skills has never been so fun!

A paperback edition and a digital (print it yourself) edition are available. The advantage of the digital edition is that you can print your kids favorite coloring pages unlimited times!

The Unicorn Coloring Book: For Kids Aged 4-8

Coloring Book Kim

Targeted towards younger children who are perhaps intermediates in coloring, The Unicorn Coloring Book coloring book offers 50 unique illustrations. Expectedly, all illustrations are unicorn themed – featuring a dancing unicorn, a unicorn with friends and a unicorn jumping over a rainbow to name a few.

There are also incorporations of other animals too; a lion, hare, cat and monkey among others.

All illustrations are one sided and placed on detailed backgrounds. This book guarantees to develop your child’s coloring skills as well as allow them to have fun! Coloring is a great way to improve mood, concentration and most importantly, facilitate creative thinking!

Squibbles

Jay Stansfield

Targeted towards older children, this incredible book functions not only as a coloring book but also as a journal, diary, book of affirmations and schedule to name a few. Anything you want to ‘Squibble’! The book includes empty sections above the illustrations in which you can write.

Essentially, your child can turn this book into their own unique, personalized creation! There are 30 individual pages in this book, measuring 21 cm x 21 cm in size. This is enough for your child to fill and use a page every day of the month. By carrying out regular creative practices, children can develop artistic motivation, stimulate their imagination and become increasingly inventive!

Despite all the practical reasons why creativity and art in early childhood is great, it’s also simply just fun! By having fun, children are able to learn and discover things about the world as well as about themselves.

Space Activity Book for Kids Ages 6-8

Young Dreamers Press

Both educational and fun, the Space Activity Book contains illustrations to colour in as well as some other stimulating creative activities! Tasks include mazes, word searches, spot the difference, connect the dots and find the matching pair to name a few. The book itself is filled with space themed objects, characters and activities. Elements of galaxies, UFOs, astronauts, aliens and robots can be seen throughout the book. Unlike the previously mentioned books, the Space Activity Book is rather educational! If your child has a love for outer space or planets – this is the perfect book for them.

The activities in the book range in difficulty, so your child shouldn’t feel discouraged if they are unable to complete one of them. Above all, fun stimulates creativity the most – so encourage that! As a parent, it’s important to pay attention to the creativity in your child, and foster environments in which your children are able to creatively express themselves.

This book is a great example of just that, serving as a great alternative to screen time as well as a way to wind down, engage their imagination and have fun.

Olli Ella Playpa: Fairy Tale

Olli Ella

This increasingly innovative and revolutionary concept is perfect for parents wanting to engage their children in creative play. Meet ‘Playpa’ – an 8 meter roll of endless coloring!

Each roll is printed with fairy tale designs that your child can color in. Playpa is a perfect addition to a number of situations – group parties, rainy days or picnics! Because it offers 8 meters of illustrations, Playpa is sure to offer hours of creative, artistic fun. This is another great alternative to screen time on iPads, TVs or iPhones. Another great feature of Playpa is the limitless possibilities it offers – your children can color with others, make it their own creation, play games, or even draw on top of the illustrations.

Once the roll is complete, it can be hung on a wall in your home to celebrate the creativity of your child. As a parent, being actively involved in this process and praising your children for their use of creativity works as a form of positive reinforcement. This positive reinforcement will solidify cognitive pathways regarding art as well as help create positive mental schemas towards creativity.

So why not consider displaying the art that your child makes in your home and show it to your family!

Alternative coloring books for kids

Check out these great coloring books for kids as well!