Lists of screen-free activities for 3 year olds run to fifty ideas. What you need is one that works on a wet Saturday while you drink a coffee. How to set up coloring so a three year old starts on their own, finishes a page, and wants another.
Why coloring, of all the ideas
Screen-free activities for 3 year olds are easy to list: puzzles, building blocks, playdough, picture books, a walk. Most of them need you. Coloring is one of the few a three year old can do sitting down and mostly alone, and unlike a puzzle it has no wrong answer and no piece that goes missing under the sofa. That is why so many parents reach for it when they need twenty minutes.
It works when it is set up for the child. It fails when the child is handed a pile of paper and a box of sixty, or a book of pictures too small to start. What follows is the set-up.
How long to expect
Less than you hope, at first. A three year old’s attention is measured in minutes, and it varies from child to child and day to day. One page, five or ten minutes, is a good start; a child who loves it will go longer, and a habit built over a few weeks lasts longer still. Plan for the short version, and enjoy the long one when it comes.
For balance, the World Health Organization recommends that children of three and four have no more than an hour of sedentary screen time a day, and says less is better (WHO). Coloring is not a cure for screens. It is one more thing to say yes to.
Set it up before you need it
The moment you need quiet is the wrong moment to look for crayons. Keep a basket or a box ready, in reach of the child:
- One coloring book of big simple pictures, not a pile of loose sheets.
- Six to eight chunky crayons, not the whole collection. Fewer colors means more coloring and less sorting.
- Something firm to color on, a tray or a clipboard, if they will not be at a table.
Keep the basket for coloring only, and put it back when they finish. A thing that comes out at certain times is more interesting than a thing that is always lying around.
One page they can finish
A three year old wants to finish. A page with one big thing on it, a duck, a tractor, a puppy, can be done in one sitting, and a finished page is the point: it gets held up, named and shown to someone. A busy scene or a page of small spaces cannot be finished at three, so the child stops halfway and the quiet ends with them.
So choose the page with them, or for them, and pick a simple one. How to choose a coloring book for a 3 year old has the checks for a book whose pages can all be finished.
Sit with them for the first minutes
Children settle into a thing more easily when a grown-up starts it with them. Sit down, color a corner of your own page, say something about the colors they chose, and then step back to your coffee. Zero to Three’s advice on drawing applies here: notice the process, not just the product, and talk about what they are doing rather than judging what they have made (Zero to Three).
The first few times you may not get far. That is fine. The habit is the point.
Stop while it is going well
End before the child is bored or cross. A session that stops with “we’ll do the cow tomorrow” leaves them wanting the basket again; one that runs on until the crayons are thrown makes it a battle next time. When the page is finished, stick it on the fridge, or take a photo for a grandparent, and put the basket away.
A few others to rotate
Coloring on its own every day wears thin. Rotate it with other quiet things a three year old can do with little help: a basket of picture books, a simple puzzle with big pieces, playdough on a tray, stickers on a sheet of paper. Each lasts longer when it is not always out.
If you want one of ours
This part is about our own books, so weigh it accordingly. Little Lantern Coloring is sized for exactly this: one big subject on every page, nothing a chunky crayon cannot fill, and every page finishable at three. Farm and Garden has 52 pictures for ages 3 to 6, so there is always another one tomorrow; it goes on sale in November, and the puppy above is from it. Coloring inside the lines is about what to say, and what not to, while they color.
Sources
- World Health Organization. To grow up healthy, children need to sit less and play more, 24 April 2019. For children aged 3 to 4, sedentary screen time should be no more than 1 hour; less is better.
- Zero to Three. Learning to write and draw, 24 February 2017. Notice the process, not just the product.
