OK - I have had these tutorial pictures on this camera since like May last year!! I just found them and thought I'd share. I take no credit for this idea, my sister and I had talked about this. Turns out she had heard of this through school or something. I just put life to it, so that you could enjoy it too. Click on the pictures for a better view.
First you need to gather your supplies to make RE-COLORABLE COLORING BOOKS !! For my coloing pages, I printed off the Alphabet pages over at Reading With Kids.com. Since there are 26 letters, that means I will have 13 pages in this book. I got a couple 1/2 inch binders, some dry erase markers and sheet protectors with the holes prepunched. I also have some cheaper cardstock to put in the pages for a bit of stability.
First you will stuff all the pictures in the sheet protectors. I made a sandwich of sorts - coloring page, cardstock, coloring page. Then with my crop-a-dile, I punched through all the papers using the hole on the sheet protector as my template.
Then you put all the finished pages into the binder. The kids get the joy of coloring taking a Kleenex to erase and them color again. I had to take a picture of Jayden after he erased something. He would look at the Kleenex for the longest time, to try and figure out how it worked ... lol
I also made another one with all of their favorite cartoon characters - Cars, SpiderMan, Toy Story, etc. I just Googled like this {"Cartoon name" coloring pages free}. I linked those first 3 to get you started, but think of Disney princess for girls, animals, farm pictures, mighty machines, Barbie, learning numbers, etc. The possibilities are ENDLESS and when they are done with those pictures, you take them out and replace them with new ones! All I know is that my boys love them, and that is what counts. All this time later, they still color with them!
great idea.. have used printable coloring pages in the past never thought to make them reusable with the dry erase markers and page protectors... thanks bunches !!
Posted by: LATRICIA | January 10, 2011 at 11:57 AM
I agree with everyone else......what a faulous idea! I have printed these out before but never thought to use the sheet protectors, which I have a ton of. Now I will work on at least a book to color, dot to dot, etc. Thank you, Julie!
Posted by: Kheila | January 07, 2011 at 10:22 AM
great idea!
Posted by: Monika Thiessen | January 06, 2011 at 01:05 PM
AWESOME JULIE! THANKS FOR SHARING, I'LL HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT AND MAKE ONE FOR A GRANDDAUGHTER! SHE LOOOOVES THOSE DISNEY PRINCESSES!
ENJOY YOUR FLORIDA TRIP!! I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU AND THE BOYS! GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
Posted by: Ilene B. | January 05, 2011 at 05:51 PM
Julie,
This is such a cool idea! I don't have little ones any more, or grand-kids yet, but I've already shared the link to your blog with a friend whose grand-kids will love it. I never knew anything like these free coloring pages existed. Thank you for sharing your tutorial, and the information about accessing the coloring pages. What a wonderful resource.
Posted by: Val W | January 05, 2011 at 04:11 PM
Great Idea, Julie..!! We can also use this idea for 'to do lists', games like pictionary etc...and save on paper..
Posted by: Shubhangi | January 05, 2011 at 01:44 PM
Love it!!!! I teach preschool and the lightbulb has clicked on with ideas for my class. Think I will do it with their names so they can keep practicing!!!!!!!
Posted by: leanna | January 05, 2011 at 01:18 PM
Hi Julie,
What a fabulous idea! I think the same idea could be applied to many other uses. I'm thinking parents could make pages to help the kids learn how to trace, print letters and numbers and start learning cursive writing. Also, how about mazes? They would be able to draw lines on the maze and try one route after another! And matching games - draw a line from a description to it's picture! And dot to dot! And the dot to dot game where you make boxes? You are right - the ideas are endless. So cool!!!
Hugs,
Linda
Posted by: Linda L | January 05, 2011 at 12:52 PM
Excellent idea! They learn and color at the same time. What fun this will be for My Granddaughters! Thanks for such a great idea!
Posted by: Linda Henry | January 05, 2011 at 12:09 PM
OH..MY..GOSH!!! That is SO cool. I am going to make some books for my 2 boys, ages 6 and 5. Great idea. Thanks for sharing! :)
Posted by: Linda | January 05, 2011 at 10:22 AM
What a fabulous idea!! Wish I had it when my kids were younger. Will tuck it in the back of my mind and hope it surfaces when grandkids come along (ie. about 15 - 20 years from now LOL!)
Posted by: Marisa | January 05, 2011 at 09:52 AM
Julie,
Can you explain the steps you take after you click on the image, please, to get the right size. Download? Save as? What do you do first, second. Thanks.
Posted by: Donna H. | January 05, 2011 at 09:11 AM
What a great idea Julie!! My youngest's birthday is coming up and I plan on making her several themed coloring books using your tutorial! Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Chrystal | January 05, 2011 at 08:55 AM