K's Color By Number

I was inspired by a letter in the mail we got from my 5 year old niece.  She created a Color by Number for my kids.  Her Mom is one of the most creative people I know, and she showed Little L. how to create a Color by Number.  The only thing is, it looked like so much fun that she colored it before she could send it out.  Made me smile.  

That provoked my kids to want to make a Color by Number as well.  They sent it to my 90 year old Grandpa and 81 year old Grandma.  They colored and my Aunt sent the finished work to me via email...

It was so much fun for my family, I was sure my K's were going to get a kick out of it too.  I thought it would be even more fun if we used REALLY bit paper. I was right!!  They loved it!

We first looked at some Color by Number pictures.  The kids each got their own so we could study it and talk about what a 'key' is.  I was surprised to see that there were many kids who had never colored a Color by Number.  I showed each class how to draw a simple drawing.  I also showed them how to label and create a key.

I gave kids an option to color their small image that I gave them, or they could color the picture they drew.  I suggested that if they didn't color the big one, they could ask their parents to help them later.  A lot of kids like that idea, and I did too because that means that they talk to their parents about art class!