Looking for an easy calm down strategy for kids? Vertical coloring is in my top 5. This activity has the usual coloring benefits and includes midline crossing and a slew of other positives. It’s the perfect before-bed activity, transition, or calm down strategy.

First let’s touch on coloring benefits:

Hand eye coordination

When children first begin to color, they scribble all over the page. As hand-eye coordination increases, they can put the crayon exactly where they want it, eventually staying within lines and even mastering pressure.

Pencil grip

Toddlers benefit from rock/pebble crayons as they draw with whole arm motions. Gradually they master pencil grip, graduating to wrist and finger motion to draw. Triangular shaped crayons are a great aid when transitioning from whole arm to wrist/finger motions.

Early writing skills

Being able to purposely create a shape or color in the lines is the basis for having the dexterity to write!

Colors, shapes and patterns

Coloring is a perfect place to explore colors, shapes, and patterns. The child has control over which colors to use and where they go on the page, and power always adds an element of fun when learning something.

Focus, planning, and expectations

Coloring requires patience, focus and the ability to be still. Children also get to plan the page, choose colors, make decisions, and sometimes be disappointed when they choose the “wrong” color or go outside the lines. These are all wonderful teaching and growing moments.

As you can see, there are so many coloring benefits! Working on all these skills makes it a natural calm down strategy (for adults, too!). Now let’s add in a vertical surface!

Vertical surface coloring benefits:

Core strength 

Coloring while standing at a vertical surface engages core muscles, so this is another way to practice core strengthening without your child ever knowing.

Shoulder, arm and wrist stability

It takes more effort and muscle to keep a hand steady in the air than it does to rest it on a surface and draw. Take a second right now and give it a try: write on an imaginary easel, and then rest your arm on a surface to write. Which is harder? You’re either fighting gravity or not. Vertical surfaces also allow for bigger arm movements, which means more of a workout!

Gross and fine motor skills

Coloring on a flat surface improves fine motor skills, but when you introduce a vertical surface, you add gross motor, too. Your child needs to use gross AND fine motor skills to navigate a vertical surface. The gross motor might be reaching with his whole arm, or squatting, or alternating between sitting and standing, or walking to and from the easel to swap out colors. The fine motor is the actual coloring with fingers and wrist, picking up crayons, or putting caps on and off markers. Using both of these skills together is added practice!

Spatial awareness

Working on a vertical surface means your child is practicing spatial awareness in a different way. Most often, this means that words like up and down actually correlate to his own body, which is so different than when drawing on a small piece of paper on a table. He’s also made to be aware of how close or far his body is to the vertical surface, especially as he moves around, which is different than sitting in the same spot and coloring.

 
Midline crossing

Midline crossing means a child can move a limb from one side of the body into the space on the opposite side of the body. For example, a child can roll a car across the floor with his right hand and into the space occupied by the left side of his body.

This is so important because successful midline crossing means both sides of the brain are working effectively together. It’s a skill that develops and improves throughout elementary school years, and studies have shown there’s a correlation between this skill and overall coordination and reading. Yes, reading!

I think children get a lot of practice midline crossing in active play, but not so much when working quietly, and that’s why vertical, big coloring works so well as a calm down activity – it’s something different!

Bilateral cooperation

This means that both sides of the body (and brain) are working together. For example, a child can stabilize her body with her left hand leaning against the wall while coloring with her right hand.

Midline crossing and bilateral cooperation are important for everyday activities like brushing your teeth, putting on pants, tying shoelaces, and a million others! You can see why practicing these skills is beneficial to all kids!

There’s a lot going on in the brain when your child works on a vertical surface!

Which means… that as your child subconsciously works on all those things listed above, emotions tend to settle down. Coloring has its own benefits, but when you add a vertical surface, your child is presented with another level of skills.

Now add in a parent who’s attentively coloring and connecting and it’s a win-win-win-win before-bed, transition, calm down or connect-with-your-child activity!

How to incorporate vertical coloring in your child’s life

• Look for big coloring opportunities that can be taped to the wall (our poster is from Dollarama). You could also use a roll of plain paper or even the back side of wrapping paper! Make sure bleed through won’t ruin your walls underneath the paper.

• Add an easel to your home.

• Incorporate a chalk board or white-board wall into your home.

• Think creatively: color-it-in wallpaper, paint a fence with water, chalk the fence or side of the house, let your older child paint or mural her bedroom walls, use dry erase markers on a leaning mirror, buy window makers, mount a huge piece of cardboard against the wall, add a large blank canvas to a hallway… where there’s a will there’s a way!

So, do you have a vertical coloring set up? Would you use it as a calm-down activity? Can you think of any other ways to incorporate vertical coloring or painting in your child’s life?

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