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Kumon Let’s Color

Sweet Pea is 26 months.

KumonLetsColor

Materials:

Procedure: The book itself and each page contains instructions for presentation.

Observations: The book has a lot of instructions for a coloring book, which I liked.  The first page discusses how children progress in coloring skills and how to guide them to hold a crayon correctly.  The instructions are pretty relaxed and the tone stresses allowing your child to enjoy coloring without pressure to pick the right color or stay in the lines.  The start of the book contains pages that your tot can complete with scribbles (for example, drawing rain in front of a landscape or spaghetti on a plate).  Later the pages get more complicated with the child being required to fill in missing spots of color on an object (for example, coloring a white circle on a tomato red).  Each page has a paragraph describing the best way to present each page to your child.  These instructions alternate  between  useful (“Don’t be concerned about your child running off the edges.    Line your table with scrap paper so that you can let your child scribble freely without worrying about getting any marks on the table” ) and mildly condescending (“When you child has finished coloring, say “tomato” aloud while pointing to the word.”)

Sweet Pea really liked these pages. She was particularly interested in the piggy (which I think may have actually been a bear) on this one.

KumonLetsColor-1

After each picture Sweet Pea would run in to the kitchen and hang the finished artwork up on the fridge.  She was very proud of herself.

KumonLetsColor-4

The real question is:  Do I think it’s worth it to spend $6 on a coloring book for a toddler?  I felt like this activity was soooo easy, that I would say I do recomend it.  I liked how I didn’t even have to think and could whip out a page from the book and read 2 sentance about what to say to my tot.  We had a great time coloring as instructed on the front of each page and then turning the pages over and scribbling on the back.  A blank pad of paper would have worked fine for introducing coloring, but something about seeing a strawberry on the page and showing Sweet Pea how to put ‘seeds’ on it was really fun.

From the Trenches: I highly recommend the Crayola Twistables Crayons.  The first box of crayons we bought was Crayola Beginnings Washable Crayons, but we had a couple of problems with them.  I think they are supposed to clean up especially easily and maybe this led to them being too soft.  They broke easily.  The crayons came out of the wrapper and then the color would smear all over everything.  The color would leak onto our hands, the box, and even the table they were just laying on.  Granted, it was a cinch to wipe the color up with just water and a cloth, but I’d rather not have it be a problem in the first place.

KumonLetsColor-2

Rating: 3 Stars * (Fun, Easy, Independent)

9 comments to Kumon Let’s Color

  • I moved my blog to blogspot, so I am commenting from the new location now 🙂 We have a few of those Kumon books, and I was less than thrilled with them earlier this year. Let’s Fold and Let’s Cut Paper are marketed as appropriate for 2 years and up, but they are still way too complex for my daughter who is almost 3. However, she really likes the other book from this series that was sent by my mom recently – My First Book of Tracing. I pace her and let her do only one page a day, so it keeps her interested. She actually begs for her “maze” every evening, and in the process her ability to draw simple shapes improved dramatically.

  • admin

    I’ll check out the “My First Book of Tracing”. I worked with Sweet Pea on the “Let’s Fold” a couple of times and she had trouble at first, but she is starting to be able to do them now. I am definitely keeping her away from scissors for now. 🙂

  • Shannon~

    I am actually a Kumon Instructor in New Mexico. I offer the early learner books families at my Center, and do agree that some are certainly better than others 🙂 I also agree that $6.00 is a little steep for a child’s coloring or tracing book! I suggest that the parents cut the pages out of the books, slip then into sheet protectors, and have the child use dry erase markers to complete the pages. I know this probably works better for the tracing, maze, and letter books, but I thought I’d offer the suggestion anyway.

    Also, when it’s time for your little one to begin writing the letters of the alphabet, the Kumon alphabet books work very well in conjunction with our write-and-wipe cards. I love the seqence that Kumon uses for learning the letters. Not A-B-C, but “easy” (straight line letters like I-T-F) before curvey letters, or those with more strokes (B-S-R…). If the write-and-wipe cards are not available in your area, please let me know. I’d be happy to send you a set.

    Kindest regards~
    ~~~Anne

    • admin

      Anne,
      I really like your idea of the sheet protectors and dry erase markers. I think that dry erase markers are too messy for Sweet Pea right now, but I will keep that in mind and I know it will come in handy when she gets a little older. I’ll keep an eye out for the write and wipe cards, too.

      -Shannon

  • Try a china marker 🙂 It’s more of a crayon, can be wiped off easily, and is much less messy than a dry erase marker! 🙂

    Your daughter is adorable, by the way! You’ll have to visit my blog to see pictures of my Center Administrator’s daughter doing Kumon worksheets at my Center. Haily is about 29 months and has big eyes and beautiful curls, much like Sweet Pea. Pictures will be up mid-October.

    Hugs and blesings~
    ~~~Anne

  • millymom619

    I think $6 is a lot of money for these books if you’re using the pages straight out of the book. Personally, I copy the pages so I can use them again. I can’t be certain, but I don’t think it’s illegal as long as you’re copying for PERSONAL use only (i.e., not selling or gifting).

    • admin

      I agree that the books are pricey. You might want to look at my post on making them “re-usable” with sheet protectors: (http://totschool.shannons.org/?p=1072).

      Also, I don’t use the little $6 books at home anymore, but I do use them when we go out to dinner or to a friends house. I keep a little travel bag in the car with the Let’s Color, Let’s Paste, Let’s Fold and Let’s Cut books in it along with training scissors, glue and crayons. Sweet Pea often finishes eating dinner very quickly and I can hand her a few pages to keep her occupied. Usually at that point, I would even be willing to pay $1 a page for 15 more minutes of quiet. 😉

  • Mallory

    Just another idea, Crayola makes dry erase crayons. They are awesome! I bought mine at Toys R Us.

  • […] I had a comment from Barkey’s Mommy on my Kumon Let’s Color post recommending something like this.  I […]

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