With their fearsome breath, dangerous claws and lethal teeth, dragons are unlikely to appeal to five-year-olds. Or so you would have thought. However, the success of the How to Train your Dragon franchise shows that dragons have caught the collective fancy of almost everyone below sixteen, though I’ve met plenty of older dragon aficionados too. Fortunately for parents, kids love everything to do with dragons, so dragon-themed learning resources are all the rage nowadays. If you were wondering how to reconcile your little one’s new-found love for all things dragon with activities that are more academic in nature, you’ll find that dragon coloring pages fit the bill like nothing else. Check out these three useful skills that dragon themed coloring printables promise to teach your child.
- Creativity and imagination
Pre-printed dragon coloring pages allow young children to explore and experiment with different forms of coloring – from mythical Asian and European dragons to the dragons that populate beloved fairy tales, your child has a huge variety of draconic characters to choose from. Cute and cuddly or fierce and fiery, childhood friends or deadly enemies, dragon coloring pages will spoil your little knight or Viking princess for choice. You can print them out on different textures (construction paper, notebook papers, lined paper or card stock) and encourage him to use different coloring instruments like crayons, markers, pencils and pastels). Eventually, dragon coloring pages will help your child build his creative skills, create new themes and learn to depict the pictures he sees in his mind’s eye.
- Discipline and self-control
The creative and imaginative child may sometimes find it difficult to control his impulses. As he grows older, he must have resources that teach him self-control without taking away his artistic talents or originality in the process. Dragon coloring pages teach him to “color within the lines” and accept the boundaries and limitations of a pre-printed coloring page. But they also have fantastic and highly imaginative subjects that appeal to children’s fancy. This early and stimulating exposure to boundaries will come in useful when he has to practice his handwriting and cursive writing skills within pre-printed boundaries.
- Fine Motor Skills
Coloring a dragon printable is usually a more challenging task than would appear at first sight. Dragon figures are more complex than other subjects, especially if they are shown battling knights, capturing maidens or learning to fly – situations that are not very easy to color. This is good because it helps your child develop his fine motor skills – skills that help him write, manipulate small objects and do everyday tasks such as brushing his teeth, tying his shoelaces, getting dressed, etc. They also equip him with the manual dexterity needed to begin his pre-writing learning, to grip a writing/coloring instrument, and practice finger, wrist and arm control. These fine motor skills will come in handy when he learns to type, lift objects and perform a variety of physical activities at a later stage.
Now that you know the three top benefits of using dragon coloring pages, how about downloading some for your little one?
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