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
 |
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!
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