Until recently, coloring books, like so many other wonderful things, were deemed For Kids Only. To indulge was to resign oneself to appeasing the children or to regress a couple of decades while dodging snorts of derision.
And then came coloring books aimed at grown-ups, their marketing touting the calming benefits of laying down color in pleasing patterns (because, of course, one can deny climate change but needs science to justify voluntary time-outs).
I like to color. I’ve always liked to color. I like to color with my kids. We can co-art in their books of course, but let’s be honest: there’s only so much Paw Patrol I can swallow. Alas, the books marketed to adults are just a bit too intricate for four and seven year old coordination and, let’s be honest, even the ones which aren’t “adult” adult are sometimes… problematically themed (I’m pretty lenient where the superhero stuff is concerned, but I’m not going to let my kids burn out their red crayons filling out a page of Deadpool splattering heads).
Crayola Art With Edge to the rescue! The company was kind enough to send me several samples, including: Sugar Skulls, Justice League (which my husband immediately stole), and Bold & Fearless.
This is a great bridging series–complex enough to entertain adults and bring the “distraction-focus” required for relaxation, while the kids sit on the other side of the book and scribble happily without timeing-out on a too-intricate pattern or happen upon a page not suited to their still-developing psyches and senses of morality.
Crayola: Art With Edge books are a great last minute gift for the art-lover, comic-fiend, or needer-of-stress-relief in your life. Throw in a box of crayons or colored pencils, and you win socking-stuffers or mid-Chanukah-hump night.
