Coloring Books for Seniors: Best Books, Supplies & More

 

Today we brought in Scott, an expert on aging gracefully, to share the best coloring books for seniors, some helpful supplies for those coloring with arthritis or poor eyesight, and the many benefits of adult coloring for seniors.

His detailed article below is useful not only for seniors new to the hobby of adult coloring, but also caregivers looking for a creative outlet for their loved ones.

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Often, as we age, we find ourselves with more time on our hands. Maybe the kids are all raised and left home. Perhaps retirement has come so you find yourself looking for ways to keep busy. Or, maybe you need a healthy activity for someone you love or care for. Have you thought about adult coloring? Coloring books for seniors offer not only a creative way to fill time, but also have physical and mental health benefits as well.

For the absolute best adult coloring experience as a senior, there is some information you should look into first. Below, I’ve outlined why coloring is so beneficial for senior citizens especially, whether you are a senior yourself, or looking for a great creative outlet for your parent or older relative. We’ll also explore the specific features you should be looking for in a coloring book for seniors, make a few book recommendations, and suggest some helpful tools for coloring with arthritis or poor eyesight.

Benefits of Coloring for Seniors

There are so many benefits of taking up coloring for people of any age. For seniors especially, it can be an all-around lifestyle enhancing activity that boosts their mood and confidence. There are some very important physical, mental, and social advantages that come with the hobby of coloring that make it uniquely beneficial for seniors.

1. Offers a Creative Outlet

After years of caring for a family or working a full time job for many years, you may have found you lost the desire to create. Maybe you just need to be reminded of the joy and pride (and fun!) you felt as a child when you finished that art project or clay sculpture for school. Coloring is a great place to get those creative juices flowing again.

Coloring also provides a sense of confidence and self-worth, since the tangible result of the experience is something beautiful and personally significant to the colorist. You have created something unique and memories will be attached to those simple coloring book lines, patterns, and colors.

2. Improves Fine Motor Skills

The practice of coloring inside the lines of a pre-made design keeps senior hands active and engaged. This can be great for anyone with joint pain or stiffness, as it keeps these areas limber and active, especially if this becomes a daily habit. Fine-tuning those muscles and joints and keeping them moving can reduce stiffness and pain overtime, just like any gentle exercise regimen. This will also improve hand-eye coordination as fine motor control is improved and new pathways are formed in the brain.

Try not to get discouraged if your hands are too weak at first to give you the control you want. Like anything else, practice makes perfect! Developing any skill takes time and effort.

3. Keeps the Mind Busy

There have been countless studies done on the mental health benefits of coloring since it became such a craze a few years ago. Basically, all of them conclude that coloring is beneficial because it brings about the same benefits of meditation and mindfulness. When coloring, it’s easy for the person to focus intently on the action they are performing and let everything else, like everyday stress, anxiety, or sadness, fall away.

4. Relaxes the Mind Too!

Because the brain is busy focusing on a singular creative task, the mind is able to relax. I know this sounds contradictory but concentrating on coloring keeps the mind from racing in different directions. You might just forget about that upcoming doctor’s appointment or a loved one’s illness for a few minutes.

For seniors especially, the older ages in life can bring about a significant amount of loss, change, and stress. Having this relaxing, therapeutic hobby as a tool can really make a difference in their overall mental health and quality of life by having a more positive activity on which to focus.

5. Fills the Need for Socialization

According to further research, coloring is also an important tool for building communities and finding people with similar interests, which can be difficult as we get older. The studies show that choosing to create art together, which can be a very vulnerable experience, instantly creates a deep connection with those you shared that experience with. Who knew that a coloring hobby could actually create life-long friendships? This is one of the reason that coloring is a regular group activity in senior centers and nursing homes.

Finding a coloring group near you is also easier than you might’ve originally thought. Check out Cleverpedia’s roundup of coloring meetups and see if there’s one in your area, or find out how to start your own coloring group here.

6. Encourages Nostalgia and Memory Recall

This is especially important for seniors in the early stages of dementia or Alzheimer’s. Reminiscing keeps the brain neurons firing and may just help those long term memories from fading away. The act of coloring itself may bring back the sweet memory of coloring as a child with a loved grandparent. Maybe the subject of the coloring page itself will have a special memory attached to it.

If you are caring for a loved one with these conditions, sit down and color with them. Find a coloring book around a subject they may have enjoyed when they were younger. Chances are you will hear a story or two you might not have heard otherwise.

What to Look for When Buying a Senior Adult Coloring Book

Obviously, to get you started with your new coloring hobby, you’ll need to find a coloring book that’s suited to your needs. Below are a few suggestions to look out for when shopping for a new coloring book for a senior.

Thick Lines

This feature goes back to the motor skills factor. If you don’t have any motor issues with your hands, this may not be a concern for you. But for seniors with arthritis or hand weakness, look for thicker lines in the designs within the coloring book.

This is important because it gives you a little forgiveness if you can’t entirely stay within the lines. If the lines are thin, mistakes are more likely to show up. With thick lines, it’ll be easier for you to control the outcome of the final drawing.

Appeals to Your Interests

Also, possibly most importantly, make sure you like the subject that you’re coloring! Coloring books come in almost any topical interest you could imagine, so find one that suits your unique personality and interests.

For example, do you love gardening? Check out these cactus and succulent coloring books. Love cats or dogs? There are plenty of coloring books that fit the bill. There are even coloring books for potty mouths! I could go on, but do some research and find what would be the most enjoyable subject for you to color.

Special Considerations for Seniors with Dementia or Alzheimer’s

If you are looking for coloring book ideas for a loved one with dementia or Alzheimer’s, consider the designs and coloring patterns in the book. I would avoid complicated mandalas and geometric patterns with small spaces for these seniors. Look for an adult coloring book with simple, familiar images that they may recognize like animals, farm scenes, etc.

While you probably won’t find these more simple adult coloring books challenging enough, it is important to avoid frustrating a senior with dementia. This frustration leads to agitation which will create stress for both of you.

Best Adult Coloring Books for Seniors

Hey guys, Adrienne here! Keeping the suggestions above in mind, there is a whole world of adult coloring books to explore! But if you want some suggestions, here are a few coloring books you might enjoy.

Daydreams Coloring Book by Hanna Karlzon

This bestselling coloring book is beloved all over the world for its whimsical and organic art style. The thick lines are very forgiving, and there are no designs made up of overwhelmingly small spaces. This hardcover coloring book has thick pages with designs printed on both sides. Due to the pages being printed on both sides, it is not ideal for alcohol-based markers. I reviewed this book in more detail here!

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Twilight Garden Coloring Book by Maria Trolle

Also created by a fellow Swedish illustrator, this coloring book has many similarities to Hanna Karlzon’s books and they are published in the US by the same publishing house. The book is hardcover and pages are printed on both sides of thick paper. There are 96 pages of beautiful designs inspired by nature, gardens, and Scandinavian creatures. Some pages feature rich black backgrounds that really make your designs pop. Like Hanna Karlzon, Maria Trolle illustrates with thick, forgiving lines that are begging for color!

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Just Add Color: Wildflowers: 30 Original Illustrations to Color

Illustrated by well-known artist Lida Congdon, this book of fun and simple flowers is perfect for the senior colorist who needs larger spaces and simpler designs. Each of the 30 pages is dedicated to a specific type of flower, and they are printed on only one side of medium weight paper. The pages are perforated for ease of removal. In the front of the book there are four full-color posters of designs found in the book that you can remove along the perforations and display.

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Simple Kaleidoscopes: Easy to Color Designs

This book is what it says on the tin: simple kaleidoscopes. These mandalas have larger spaces so that those with fine motor issues or poor eyesight can focus on the pleasure of coloring and set aside the frustration of small spaces. Like other books on this list, the linework is thicker and therefore more forgiving. This book is printed on thin (CreateSpace) paper.

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100 Magnificent Mandalas

This book of 100 different mandala designs has smaller spaces, although the linework in most cases is still pretty forgivingly thick. The images are printed on just one side of thin (CreateSpace) paper.

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Advanced Style: The Coloring Book

This coloring book is based on the street fashion book Advanced Style. Color these chic ladies in vibrant shades! There are 30 images to color printed on one side of thin paper.

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Charles Wysocki Americana Coloring Book

Charles Wysocki’s Americana artwork is beloved by many for its colorful landscape scenes. My aunt and I have done many puzzles together featuring his artwork! This book includes 46 coloring pages printed on one side of heavy paper. The paper is perforated for ease of removal.

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Posh Adult Coloring Book: Thomas Kinkade Designs

Thomas Kinkade is another beloved artist. This coloring book by Posh is unique because the left side of the page spread features a print of the original painting, for you to reproduce, if you wish, in the linework on the right. There are 63 Thomas Kinkade paintings to color, each accompanied by a full-color photo of the original. The paper is medium weight and not perforated.

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Cats & Quilts: Adult Coloring Book

This coloring book by Jason Hamilton, features cats and quilts! There are 24 original illustrations to color, printed on one side only of thin (CreateSpace) paper. Each image is printed once at full size and later printed again at a smaller, 4×6″ size, two to a page.

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Around The World In 50 Pages

This unique travel coloring book is spiral bound at the top, which is a convenient feature for left-handed colorists especially. The back is a thick card so you can easily color in your lap. The book is a letter-size 8.5×11″ and the paper is heavy and printed on just one side. The pages are perforated for ease of removal.

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Helpful Coloring Tools for Seniors

Aside from the perfect coloring book, you’ll also want to check out a few tools that can make coloring much easier for any senior, especially those with poor eyesight or who suffer from arthritis. Below are some suggestions.

Ergonomic Grippers for Coloring Supplies

These cool-looking, easy to use grip enhancers are perfect for keeping a tight hold on your slippery colored pencils while coloring. They’re ergonomically designed by doctors to be used for righties and lefties alike, to enhance grip and train the hand to hold pencils properly and securely. You can also use them for other supplies, such as gel pens and fineliner markers. They come in all kinds of colors, and you can choose how many you’d like in a pack.

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Artify Premium Dual-Tipped Art Marker Set with Case

I really like these dual tipped markers for any senior colorist. Markers avoid the hard pressing that is sometimes necessary with colored pencils, and are thus a more arthritis-friendly coloring supply than pencils.

Each marker has both a fine tip and a wider, chisel tip for use in small and larger spaces. So, if you are using a coloring book with less than forgiving lines, the fine tip makes it easier to stay in the lines. But, you also have the option of a wider tip for filling in more open spaces where fine control isn’t as important.

These markers are also easier to hold for a person with finger pain and arthritis. They are a chunkier style marker so the body of them is larger. Also, the fingertip area is triangular shaped so you won’t have to grip it as tight as a round marker for controlled movements.

These are alcohol-based markers, so for best results you will want to pair them with higher quality coloring books that include premium paper that is thicker and smoother than some cheaper books.

You will also be able to get lots of color variation because there are 40 colors included and the white marker can be used to blend custom colors. A plastic case is also included.

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Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Markers

These markers have a very fine, .3 mm tip that is perfect for very detailed work. They are water-based and therefore less likely to bleed through even thinner coloring book pages.

These markers have a triangular barrel that is more ergonomic than round-barreled markers. The point is metal-clad to help maintain the fine tip, and these markers can be left uncapped for days without drying up.

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Staedtler Triangular-Barreled Colored Pencils

If you prefer using pencils over markers, then I recommend these colored pencils. They have the same stabilizing triangular shape for accuracy and control of your coloring project. Colorists with arthritis or fine motor control difficulties will find these easier to use because they do not roll in the fingers so they can be gripped with less effort and pain. Another benefit is that this ergonomic shape also prevents them from rolling off the table too!

These quality pencils also come with a triangular tube that doubles as a storage box. A total of 72 colors are included and sharpening is easy due to soft wood cores.

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Battery-Operated Heavy Duty Colored Pencil Sharpener

Keeping a nice sharp point on coloring tools is important for accuracy but sharpening colored pencils is a chore for seniors with reduced grip strength or the onset of arthritis. So, forget doing this manually and move over to an electric sharpener. The best thing about this one is that it is specially designed to handle waxy colored pencils without clogging and creating a mess. Another cool feature is that it runs on batteries or can be plugged into a USB or regular electric socket. It is also very quiet — reviewers remark that it is the quietest electric pencil sharpener they have ever owned!

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Fancii Daylight LED 3X Magnifying Lamp with Metal Clamp

When you color, you need optimal lighting in order to not strain your eyes. This two-in-one magnifying lamp comes with 3 different brightness settings and a built in magnifying glass so that you can really see the intricacies of your drawing. It’s perfect for coloring pages with very fine spaces! It also has a gooseneck design that is fully adjustable. The light can clip onto any desk surface, or to a shelf or your bed so you can use it wherever you prefer to color.

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Wrapping Up

Coloring is an incredibly beneficial hobby for seniors, both physically, mentally, and socially. It allows you to both focus and calm your mind, while improving your motor skills and serving as a unique creative outlet.

When looking for adult coloring books that will work for you, make sure the designs are to your liking, and that there are relatively thick lines for you to work with. If you are looking for an older loved one, take into account their abilities to avoid frustration and agitation. To really enhance the experience, check out portable, clip-on lights, magnifying glasses, and coloring tools with secure grip features so that you can get the most out of your coloring hobby.

All of these tools and tips will help any senior have the most fun with this new coloring craze, and create some beautiful artwork along the way. Are you a senior who has taken up coloring? What are your tips and tricks? Share in the comments below!

This post was written by Scott Grant, ATP, CRTS. Scott is a father of four awesome daughters, Paw-paw to 3 terrific grandkids, and works as a custom wheelchair specialist for a regional home medical company. He also is founder and editor of Graying With Grace, a blog dedicated to helping seniors and their caregivers. You can reach him on his website, Facebook, or you can leave a comment below if you have any questions.

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