When I was a young boy not much older than my son is now, I started using coloring pages as an activity I could do with my father. As much as I loved working on them I also loved spending time with my dad and having something the two of us could do alone. I am sure you could well imagine my hopes to continue this tradition and spend some quality time alone with my son and some coloring pages.

You might be like me and find that a lot of the activities for children to do these days are very expensive or something that I haven't a hope of joining in with. I do not know about you but I definitely can't skateboard, I can't swim and I definitely don't know how to use a pc or xbox to play games. I am lost when it comes to computers, I really am. I know it is inevitable that as my son grows that he will soon enough be looking to do things on his own and being seen with his dad would be grounds for teasing from his friends so I am making a huge effort to spend as much free time as I can with him now and really make every moment count. They say time is the most precious gift you can give to a youngster and I am trying hard to live by that. It seems increasingly hard to find activities that Dads can do with their little ones. Most seemed to be aimed at the Mothers sadly.

Coloring Pages are really good fun, my son really enjoys the pictures I download from the website kidslikecoloringpages.com. As he colors I tell him the names of the colors and he is already picking them up easily, especially his favourites Purple and Yellow. It's a great feeling knowing that I am assisting him in learning new words for his vocabulary. I really appreciate all the little contributions I can make. I do a running commentary on the item he is working on at that moment like an arm, a coat, a house, a helicopter etc etc. Someone a lot cleverer than me once said that repetition creates learning so who am I to argue! This positive bit of brainwashing can only do good.

He will soon be old enough that in a year or so we will be able to break out the paints and see what he is like using them on the Coloring Pages. I know he will love this although I am already nervous at the thought of the mess it could make! I am sure his eyes will go wide the first time I mix two colors into one to make a whole new one, such as red and green coming together to make brown. Playing is definitely the fun way to learn for all children. I can really see how his concentration has improved. Sometimes he really just loses himself in the work and goes quiet, determined to do good and his hand eye concentration has really come on in leaps and bounds. He seems to have quickly learned that by going slower his accuracy improves and things are easier overall, a great little lesson for life there! When he gets a little older I will be able to ask him to autograph his works for me so I ask him to draw me his face as a signature and he always does so with a big grin on it, which tells me he had a good time working on it!

When his work is completed I save a lot of them in a scrapbook. I suspect I will love looking through these when I am older. The rest will go up on the walls of the house, mostly in the kitchen or conservatory I imagine. By showing them off proudly I want to make clear to my boy how precious they are to me. When I was a child I probably did not get enough compliments, which may explain my sometimes lack of confidence so believe me when I say I make sure my youngster gets plenty of it. I love to see his head swell a bit when visitors come to the house and give his works praise. It seems to be having a good effect to as he has started to become more outgoing and will talk to near strangers now about his works, whats colors he used etc. Just the other day he offered to make a new coloring page at once for an Aunt that he doesn't get to see too often and as such had always been a bit nervous of.

Me and my wee lad are big fans of Disneys movies.. So you can be sure I always have Disney pictures on standby. Give him anything with Mickey Mouse or Chip & Dale on and he will be very happy! Even the newer Disney stars like Handy Manny are very popular with him and I am happy that like all of their products, these characters are positive role models. You can relax and feel safe letting your child see Disney programming as it's basically as child friendly as tv shows can get. My secret wish and hope is that when he grows a little he will love superheroes as much as I did at his age. I used to love them when I was a teen and think it would be great to have this in common with him. Batman and The Amazing Spiderman were my favourites and I have already spotted some pages I can't wait to get him started on! I think all boys grow into a thirst for safe adventure and drama so hopefully my wishes will come true and soon I can be telling him about the adventures of his heroes while we select colors for Batmans cape!

At special occasions like the Holidays we pretty much blanket the walls of our home in Coloring Pages. In December there are pictures of Santa Claus, Reindeer, Presents, Bible Scenes, Elves, Nativity Scenes and much more all over the house. While at Halloween no matter where you go in our home there will probably be a Monster, Bat, Witch or Haunted House staring at you! I am careful to pack them all away carefully afterwards and intend to be re-using them still when I have grandkids to show them to. So if you are a parent and are looking for easy and low cost ways to spend quality time with your kids I would say use Coloring Pages, you really can't go wrong with them.