Dragon Coloring Pages for your Dragon-Obsessed Child

Dragons! The word conjures up images of scaled, horned and winged mythical behemoths that breathe fire to devastate entire villages unless propitiated by the sacrifice of a young maiden or two. Tales of dragons and dragon-slaying knights have enthralled generations of children and have featured in the mythology, art, culture and literature of disparate civilizations.

The dragon motif has moved with the times and now features in countless movies and computer games that continue to fascinate kids as much as fairy tales once did. The success of How to Train your Dragon and its sequel has taken the dragon mania to new heights, and has spawned a variety of games, clothing and merchandise that are eagerly snapped by obsessed young fans.

If you think dragons are all fun and games with precious little educative value, you’d be surprised. Many educational websites put the current craze for dragons to good use with their wide range of science worksheets, printable activities and scientific experiments to make science accessible to elementary graders. Dragon-themed learning materials for math, English and other subjects are a great hit with preschoolers, kindergarteners and even older students.

Dragon Coloring Pages – The Benefits

Photo Courtesy - Zyada

Another great way to put dragons to good use is to download printable dragon coloring pages and keep your creatively-inclined child busy. This has more benefits than you might think, especially for younger children.

·         Coloring an intricate dragon-themed page teaches your little one to hold crayons and other writing/coloring tools the correct way. Those tiny muscles in his fingers, wrist and hands get a proper workout and he builds his fine motor skills in the process.

·         Coloring a dragon’s wings, tail and other body parts is no mean task – it takes a fair amount of hand-eye coordination to color within the specified area without letting the color spill out.

·         In the process, your child learns to focus on details and develops lots of patience. And you can imagine the sense of achievement he experiences when he’s done with the page!

·         Dragon coloring pages are accessible to kids as old as two or three – this matters because children in this age group do not as yet possess the skills to draw or sketch complicated figures or landscapes. They get a chance to express their creativity through simple but imaginative dragon-themed printables, without getting bored or intimidated.

·         Filling in a dragon coloring page can also be an exercise in recognizing colors, lines, hues, shapes, forms and perspectives. Try and add variety to the dragon printables you give to your child – you can choose from Vikings and dragons, knights and dragons in battle, dragons and imprisoned princesses, dragons in training school, Chinese dragons, Welsh dragons, Indian nagas, and dragons from almost any culture and civilization in the world.

·         Dragon coloring pages also help kids to learn pattern-recognition– an important skill that is used to build reading and math skills later on.

·         Dragon coloring pages seem to work wonders with hyperactive kids and those with short attention spans – the highly imaginative printables engage their attention for an appreciable length of time and give you some much-needed quiet time.

In a nutshell, dragon coloring printables are an enjoyable and productive way of catering to your child’s dragon obsession. I’d definitely recommend them!

Have you discovered any other benefits of using dragon coloring pages for your child? If yes, I’d love to hear about them!

Audience Response to How to Train your Dragon 2

Photo Courtesy – School of Dragons

One of the most anticipated movies this summer - How to Train your Dragon 2 - is finally out and making a big splash. Scoring more than 90% on the Rotten Tomatometer is one thing and wooing audiences quite another, as many a critically acclaimed flick has proved. But the response to the second installment of the planned dragons and Vikings trilogy has been pleasantly welcoming. In fact, the movie is on its way to becoming a runaway hit!

So what did How To Train Your Dragon 2 do to get it right the second time? Here’s what some viewers thought about the movie.

A lot of adults don’t really like syrupy children’s movies. DreamWorks non-fans were floored by the fact that a movie from the DWA stable could have such gripping action and all those dazzling 3-D pyrotechnics.

Unlike their normal fare, DreamWorks has managed to avoid its usual formulaic set pieces and come up with a mature romance that leaves most viewers (and adults) smiling through moist eyes. Stoick and Valka are a married couple reunited after 20 years and “For the Dancing and the Dreaming” is a moving ode to love and longing. Even the most jaded viewers couldn’t help but be touched by this renewal of lovers’ vows after a long parting.

While the movie is primarily aimed at audiences below 15, you don’t really have to be a child to enjoy it. A lot of teens loved it and so did most of the adults who watched it. HTTYD 2 certainly doesn’t talk down to its viewers!

Fans of the franchise loved the strong female characters – something animated movies aren’t really known for. Valka is a reclusive vigilante on a mission to protect dragons from evil humans; Astrid is an expert dragon rider and resourceful fighter and is Hiccup’s equal in every sense. Valka and Astrid might be the only significant female characters in the movie but they end up dominating the canvas.

Viewers are confronted by some pleasant and not-so-pleasant surprises (spoiler alert!) – Valka turns out to be none other than Hiccup’s long-lost mother; Gobber comes out of the closet and Toothless is tricked into killing Stoick.

Those looking for a movie with a heart, but put off by maudlin tearjerkers are sure to find HTTYD 2 pretty moving. The father-son relationship between Stoick and Hiccup is sensitively brought forth in all its nuances without giving way to clichés. Stoick is the alpha male whose pride as a Viking chief demands that his son prove his fighting credentials. Between him and the nerdy Hiccup exists a wide gulf that can only be bridged with love and tolerance and they do manage to bridge it in the end.

All in all, How to Train your Dragon packs a punch that leaves audiences reeling but gasping for more.

Female Characters in How to Train your Dragon 2

 

Photo Courtesy - School of Dragons

If you loved the heart-warming animation flick How to Train your Dragon (2010), you’re definitely looking forward to its sequel, the second installment of the planned Viking-dragon trilogy. According to reports, most of the characters from the original are set to reprise their memorable roles in the second movie, but you’ll also see a few new faces. Here’s a quick look at the important female characters you can expect to see in How to Train your Dragon 2, both old and new.

Astrid

Astrid Hofferson is a teenage girl and a top student at the Dragon Training Academy, which she attends along with Hiccup and other young Vikings. She’s tough, good looking and completely unimpressed by Hiccup’s secret shenanigans with Toothless. Soon, however, she becomes a fellow conspirator in Hiccup’s plan to bring peace between the Vikings and the dragons and secretly develops a crush on the nerdy son of the Viking chief. This spunky chick is a natural at dragon slaying and has plenty of physical strength and cunning required for the job. 

Surprisingly, Astrid does not appear in the book series, though she seems to be loosely based on Camicazi, an important female character in the books. When you see her next, she’ll be 20 years old, Hiccup’s longtime girlfriend and one of the main protagonists in How to Train your Dragon 2. There’s a definite reversal of roles when it comes to Astrid and Hiccup. Astrid is the active and aggressive fighter, while Hiccup is the sensitive thinker who feels things more strongly than others. Like her personality, Astrid’s appearance too has undergone a process of refinement in the sequel. Her hair seems to be sleeker and her outfit trendier, though her shoulder pads and trusty battle axe appear to be unchanged.

Valka

We finally get to meet Hiccup’s long lost mother in How to Train your Dragon 2, though she’s mentioned several times in the prequel. We first see Valka as she saves kidnapped dragons from the evil Eret and hides them in a secret Arctic cave. Her life is spent among dragons; she knows their ways and is privy to their secrets. Valka has a well-earned reputation for being crazy – she prefers the company of dragons to that of humans and has even learned to communicate with them in non-verbal ways. In the war between dragons and Vikings, Valka certainly knows whose side she’s on – her sympathies lie with the fire-breathing monsters and she finds it hard to trust humans. Hiccup admires her tremendously and looks up to her, although he doesn’t always understand her. Valka and her son share a love for dragons and both are expert dragon riders. 

Both Astrid and Valka are important characters in How to Train your Dragon 2, a crucial to the evolution of the plot.

Behind the Scenes of How to Train Your Dragon 2

With nearly a year left for the June 2014 release of ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’, fans are eager to get their hands on any information about the movie. Here are a few interesting behind the scenes stories about ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’. 

1. The ‘teaser trailer’ was originally a leak
   No doubt you’ve seen the teaser trailer for “How to Train Your Dragon 2”. Featuring nothing more than a thrilling sequence of Hiccup and Toothless trying daredevil stunts in the sky, the video went viral within weeks of its release. Turns out that the mini-clip was never meant to be a teaser trailer at all! It was originally leaked onto the internet, and DreamWorks then decided to make it official. That certainly seems to have been a good move, because fans are now more excited for the movie than ever.
    
2. Hiccup’s mother may appear in ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2
   In the book ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, Hiccup’s mother Valhallarama is still alive and is considered a great Viking hero. However, since she is often away from home on expeditions, Hiccup never sees much of her growing up. Valhallarama was originally included in the story of the movie ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, and the concept art for the character depicts a stout, smiling woman holding a dragon by its leash. However, she was left out of the final movie in order to focus more on the father-son conflict between Stoick and Hiccup, one of the central pivots of the film. It is now rumored that the mysterious Dragon Rider Valka introduced in ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ is actually Hiccup’s mother. This is based on an interview with Gerard Butler – who voices Stoick – where he mentions that Valka is his wife in the sequel. However, it is unclear whether he was referring to Hiccup’s mother or whether he remarries in the movie. It is worth noting that Valka and Valhallarama do share a few similarities – both are so involved in their missions that they have little time for maintaining a “normal” relationship with other Vikings. Also, both are very good at what they do. However, Valka is depicted as a recluse who has had very little human contact for years.
   
3. ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2 features an alpha dragon, king of all dragons
   Dean DeBlois revealed in an interview that ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ features many new dragons, among them an alpha dragon who is the king of all dragons! Remember the queen dragon Red Death from ‘How to Train Your Dragon’? Well this one is going to be above her in hierarchy and play a prominent role in ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ as well as ‘How to Train Your Dragon 3’! Wait, haven’t you heard..?
   
4. Director Dean DeBlois insisted on a ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ trilogy
   Now that is so exciting, it has to be repeated – a ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ trilogy! When Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation asked DeBlois whether he’d like to work on a sequel to ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, he said he’d do it if DreamWorks was willing to do a trilogy! DeBlois, who is interested in mythology, wants to build a story out of the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ plot and not just put the same characters into a new adventure to cash in on the huge fan following of the franchise. This is also the reason why the characters have grown 5 years older in the sequel. The trilogy will apparently explain why dragons no longer exist in the world. Doesn’t it seem like the more you find out about ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’, the better it sounds? This is most definitely one of the must-watch movies for 2014!

New MMO Dragon Game

School of Dragons-The Game

I was notified today by a close friend of mine regarding a new game Dreamworks and JumpStart has been working on. The game is called School of Dragons which is an exciting new Massively Multiplayer Online game for kids in the age group 8 to 12 years. As the name suggests, it is a dragon based game that introduces kids in grades 3 to 7 to a wide range of engaging scientific lessons and exercises. There are 4 different locations in School of Dragons, each promising a different adventure. So, get set to meet your latest best friend – your very own pet dragon – and head out on an adventure that is likely to change the way you view educational games for good!

Meet Your New Best Friend at School of Dragons 

At School of Dragons, a player or new student will begin his quest from Berk, one of the 4 major locations. As he lands up in Berk, he will make acquaintance with Gobber at the dock and then go on to meet Hiccup near the boat. It is Hiccup who will then direct him to School – the second and also the most important destination at School of Dragons. It is here that Hiccup will lead the new player towards the Hatchery. In the hatchery, the player will collect an egg and hatch it. Once the egg hatches and a baby dragon comes into being, it is the responsibility of the player to take care of his new friend and train it. Players can farm and fish to help feed their pet dragons. As the relationship between the dragon and the player develops at the School of Dragons, one will encounter a world full of science and adventure and of course, flying! Fasten your seat belts now!

School of Dragons – A Fun Way to Learn 

At School, students will be able to play exciting games as well as learn the scientific method. For the latter, students will move over to School of Dragons’ Scientific Method area where they will meet Alchemist and learn about the method and its usage. As their understanding of the scientific method matures, students will be able to solve a variety of different science problems using the method. Once students have mastered the Scientific Method at School of Dragons, they can head out to the Scientific Experiment Lab. The Lab at the School of Dragons is home to both theoretical and practical lessons, appropriate for children in grades 3 to 7. From heating and cooling experiments, learning about the states of matter, and quests on learning how rocks are formed, to theoretical lessons (found in the Field Guide section) on a range of different topics under physical science, life science, earth science and engineering, the lab is a great place for kids to learn and apply their learning to experiment. This is a great way of committing things learned to memory.

 

School of Dragons is as much a place for fun as it is a place for scientific knowledge. Players can have lots of fun just flying around with their dragon to other areas like Wilderness and Icy Cove or can participate in the 3 incredible games at the School, namely, Dragon Racing, Fireball Frenzy, and Flight School. While the Dragon Racing and Fireball Frenzy are both single and multiplayer games, Flight School is a game meant to be enjoyed by a single player. Mounting on your dragon and racing, shooting targets while atop your dragon, and collecting as many flags as possible in the given time while flying are some of the fun things to do at School of Dragons. What are you waiting for? Enroll yourself into the School of Dragons and start playing now! For anyone interested the URL is http://www.schoolofdragons.com