Coloring.

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I love doing many things. I love coloring. It's one of the many things that I love to do. I haven't colored in such a long time though, until I became a preschool teacher and it seems that I do a lot of coloring now. I have realized that it's a fun way to teach creativity to a child. You give them a black and white picture for them to color and no two picture will be alike. For crying out loud, when you are coloring if you want to color the tree hot pink, then color the tree hot pink, no one is stopping you! That's the beauty of it all, no rules really. You don't even have to stay in the lines if you don't want to!

I love watching the children color. You don't even have to give them a picture to color, you can give them a blank sheet of paper and it's fun to see what they will draw. They have a vast imagination and the dog that they draw for you is not like any other dog that you have ever seen before, or will you ever see again, but its fun to have this glimpse inside their inquisitive mind to see what they are thinking.

I like to color. I remember when I use to have my own apartment, I would have a shelf of coloring books and a box of coloring utensils-crayons, colored pencils, markers, and glitter pens. I remember all the kids at my apartment complex knew that as long as I was home my door was open for them to come in and just "hang out"-whether that be to watch a movie [I'm a sucker to animation movies!], to help me cook, to play with my cats and/or fish [they loved feeding them!], or to color and draw. I remember walking home from school and all these little kids would rush to greet me and help me carry my stuff home. Such fun memories. But I remember they really loved that shelf full of coloring books where they can draw.

Right now, I have an art box that I take with me when I am baby-sitting. It's filled with colored paper, color pencils, markers, different kinds of scissors, paste, glue tape, glitter pens, art crafts and just a lot of blank paper and coloring pictures because I have found that the kids like art. The first thing that the kids ask is "Auntie! Did you bring your project box?!"

www.365awesome.com/ 2010/12/crayons/

I personally think that the world would be a better place if everyone just stopped to take the time to color, if not by yourself, but with a child. It's a lot of fun, and believe it or not, it can be a good stress reliever. At least to me it is. :)

"If you want an interesting party sometime, combine cocktails and a fresh box of crayons for everyone."-Robert Fulghum