A coloring gift for a three year old goes wrong in small ways: pictures too small to start, crayons too thin to hold, a marker through to the next page. What to check in the book, which crayons and markers to put with it, and three gifts at three sizes.
The book: one big thing a page
The book is the part of the gift that decides whether the rest gets used, and the gift ideas for a 3 year old who loves coloring nearly all start with one. Most go wrong the same way: too many small pictures. A book of a hundred tiny animals looks generous in the shop, and a three year old with a crayon in a fist colors across three of them at once and finishes none.
Look inside before you buy, at a page from the middle as well as the first. Four things to check:
- One big thing a page. A duck, a tractor, a flower, drawn large, with little or nothing behind it. A busy scene is for a child of five or six.
- Thick outlines. Thick enough that the line still shows after the crayon has gone over it. On a preview, the outline should look heavy, not delicate.
- No tiny spaces. If a space is narrower than a chunky crayon, it will be scribbled over, and that is where the frustration starts.
- Blank backs. A picture on both sides of a sheet means the marker on one ruins the other. Listings say “single sided” when it is true; if one does not say it, assume it is not.
Check the age band too. Many toddler books are for ages 1 to 3, and a child of three and a half may already find them babyish. A book for 3 to 5 or 3 to 6 can be grown into.
Crayons a small hand can hold
At three most children are moving from holding a crayon in a fist to holding it in the fingers. The American Academy of Pediatrics describes a three year old who can hold a crayon “like an adult, with thumb on one side and fingers on the other”, and who likes to color with crayons or chalk (HealthyChildren). That is a range, not a deadline: some get there sooner, some later.
So buy crayons for the hand the child has now:
- Chunky or jumbo crayons fill a fist and do not snap under a heavy press.
- Triangular crayons do not roll off the table, and the flat sides give the fingers somewhere to sit.
- Eight to twelve colors is plenty. A box of sixty is a box of choices a three year old does not need.
Look for a non-toxic seal on the box. In the United States the AP seal from the Art and Creative Materials Institute means a toxicologist has checked the product, and the institute advises looking for that seal on any art material for children in sixth grade or younger (ACMI). Read the age on the box as well. The American rule that bans small parts in products for children under three leaves writing materials such as crayons out (CPSC), so the age printed on a box of crayons is the maker’s own advice, and worth following.
Markers: broad and washable, or not yet
Markers are bright and quick, which is why children love them and parents fear them. For a three year old, choose broad tips over fine ones, because a fine tip bends under the pressure a small hand uses. Choose washable ones: they come out of most clothes and off most tables. And keep the caps in view, since a cap is small enough to go in a mouth.
A marker soaks through paper in a way a crayon does not. In a book printed on both sides of the page, a marker on one picture spoils the next. Give markers with a single-sided book, and put a sheet of scrap paper behind the page being colored. Why markers bleed through a coloring book is written for grown-up books, but the same two fixes work here.
If the child still puts things in their mouth, leave markers for next year. Crayons alone are a complete gift.
Something to color on, somewhere to keep it
Two small extras turn a book and a box into something a child uses on their own:
- A surface. A lap tray, a clipboard or a wipe-clean mat makes coloring possible on a sofa, in a car seat or at a grandparent’s table. A book that will not stay open is hard work for a three year old, and a firm surface under it helps.
- A place for the finished page. A folder, a frame for the fridge, or simply a promise to send a photo to whoever gave the gift. A page that gets shown is a page the child will want to do again.
Three gifts at three sizes
A small one, a stocking or a party bag. A coloring book and a box of eight chunky crayons. Flat, light and easy to wrap.
A middle one, for a birthday. The book and the crayons, a pack of broad washable markers, and a lap tray or clipboard to color on.
A bigger one, from a grandparent or a godparent. All of the above, a second book in a different theme, and a frame or folder for the finished pages. Two books mean one can stay at their house.
For Sinterklaas, Christmas and the Easter basket
A coloring book suits the small presents of Sinterklaas on 5 December, a Christmas stocking and an Easter basket alike, because it is flat and it lasts past the day. For Sinterklaas and Christmas, order early: a paperback sent from an online shop takes days, not hours, and December post is slow. For an Easter basket, a book with animals, flowers or a farm in it fits the season without being only about it.
If you want one of ours
This part is about our own books, so weigh it accordingly. Little Lantern Coloring is drawn for exactly the checks above: one big thing on every page, outlines far thicker than in a grown-up coloring book, every space wide enough for a crayon held in a fist, and every picture alone on a right-hand page with the back left blank. The books are 8.5 inches square, a size that fits a lap tray.
Farm and Garden, the first volume, has 52 pictures of farm animals, tractors, vegetables and flowers; the duck above is from it. It goes on sale in November, and its page sends four of its pictures free by email, to print and try first, so you can see whether the child likes them. The whole series shows what comes next.
It is one choice among many. Any book that passes the four checks, with a box of chunky crayons beside it, is a good gift for a three year old.
Sources
- American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org. Hand and finger skills of your preschooler, updated 28 July 2022, adapted from Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age Five (2019). At three a child can hold a crayon like an adult, thumb on one side and fingers on the other; coloring with crayons or chalk is among the activities listed.
- Art and Creative Materials Institute. Materials safety. The AP seal identifies art materials certified in a toxicological evaluation by a board-certified toxicologist; check for it on creative products for children in sixth grade or younger.
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Small parts ban and choking hazard labeling. The ban covers children’s products intended for use by children under 3, and excludes writing materials such as crayons, chalk, pencils and pens.
