With many kids out of school for summer break, we figured what better time to dust off your old coloring books. Coloring is an opportunity for quality family time spent doing something that both relieves stress and primes the brain for even deeper learning and critical thinking.

Once seen as a childish pastime, coloring books have been revitalized and now are a go-to activity for small children and grown adults alike. The first coloring book, The Little Folks’ Painting Book, was published back in the 1880s by the McLoughlin Brothers and remained in publication until 1920. Coloring books were initially designed with the intention for them to be painted in, making the pages thicker than the books we have today. But in 2021, Doodling in 3D is so much more fun than mainstream crayons or watercolors.  Check it out for yourself with this week’s tutorial to learn how you can take the fun of coloring to a whole new level.

Why Should You Color?

Coloring books provide both kids and adults with a fun and creative outlet, and can also serve as a stress-relieving activity, and education tool for all.

The art of coloring is important for children because it can help improve fine motor skills. Coloring also trains the brain to focus. For parents and educators, activities like this require limited setup and breakdown time and are well-suited for travel. This makes coloring a great choice for entertaining children without a screen.

Coloring books are a great tool for adults because it’s the perfect way to relax. Coloring and drawing allow the brain to focus on the present, which can calm the nervous system, which leads to relaxation.

Doodle and Color

A 3Doodler 3D pen and a coloring book are a match made in heaven for any beginning Doodler. A coloring book arms you with plenty of templates so that all you have to do is pick your filament colors and then play around with your technique until you find your groove! Once you have mastered simple tracing then it’s time to take your Doodles to the next level by turning flat Doodles into 3D creations.

Try Doodling a tree with a cylindrical trunk so it stands on its own. Or when Doodling people add thickness to their legs so they stand up upright. There are lots of different ways to bring your Doodles to life so experiment and play around with different methods.  We talk more about bringing 2D drawings to life in 3D in this blog. A project like this is perfect for any Doodler at any skill level. So no matter what pen you have, give it a try!

These are great examples of bringing the 2D drawings to life with a 3D pen. 

Turn Any Book Into a Stencil 

To give you even more options when it comes to using coloring books with your 3Doodler – we put together this step-by-step guide just for you. In this tutorial, we show you how literally any book can be converted into a coloring book.

Whether you prefer coloring books or picture books, or both, all books will get some love on August 9th on National Book Lovers Day. A day for everyone who loves to read, National Book Lovers Day encourages you to find your favorite reading place, a good book, and read the day away.