on the job: resource – adult coloring patterns

I’ve noticed at my org that often adult beneficiaries are given colored pencils and children’s coloring pages to fill time.  It’s pretty typical across the globe for this to happen.  But the arts therapist in me makes a yucky face.  Children’s coloring pages aren’t developmentally appropriate for adults.  Adults, regardless of  ability level, deserve adult materials. So I’ve been working on gently expanding the concept of coloring at my center.  I’ve added (thanks to my mother-in-law) some grown-up markers and oil pastels and I’ve been trying to find online mandalas and geometric patterns that feel more appropriate.

I recently struck gold in my quest for online adult coloring pages.  Mr. Carlton Hibbert out of the UK keeps a blog of coloring patterns that can be downloaded and printed (even on larger A3 paper!).  I love it because there are seasonal patterns (for holidays) that are orienting for people with disabilities but they still have an adult feel.  Plus there isn’t a “right” or “wrong” when coloring these patterns — which I think encourages more expressivity from the beneficiaries.

Mr. Hibbert’s Patterns for Colouring blog can be found here.