Do You Doodle? The Drawing Alternative to Coloring Books

All kids have coloring books, but not all kids are content to just color inside the lines. Nor should they be. Do You Doodle? is an amazing book in which each page is somewhere between a blank page and a coloring book page. The reader is prompted to complete the picture, requiring them to use their own imagination finish the picture with their own drawings. They can use colors, or just a pencil to "doodle".

I spotted this book in a store and the cover piqued my interest. I opened the book, and on the first page I gazed upon, I knew I would be taking it home with me. I had a little boy in mind who isn't really into coloring books much right now. I knew that this book would peak this six year old's interest in a way that ordinary coloring and activity books don't. It would let him guide the page.

I was right. I brought it along to a restaurant where he often gets a bit impatient before the meal comes. He was immediately engrossed in it. He was explaining what he was drawing and why. He was smiling and laughing when he flipped through the pages - he already knew what he would draw there.

Do You Doodle? is an extraordinarily creative book that presents partial drawings with a prompt that encourages the reader to complete the picture. It is not a dot-to-dot type of picture, or one that is seeking a specific outcome. The drawings are open ended so that it is the readers choice how the image turns out. Doodling as a child can be all it takes to spark a lifelong love of art.

Kids drawings help them express emotion, as well as allow them to exercise their imagination and exercising the imagination is exactly what Do You Doodle? encourages.

This book makes them think about what they are doing rather than blindly coloring whatever is there. They have to make choices. And, after all, drawing is a learned skill which takes practice.