Many of my students love colouring, but paper and pens aren’t for everyone. Here are 3 great free online colouring sites that are accessible via touchscreen and mouse.
Colouring is a relaxing pastime that many people of all ages enjoy, but if you have difficulties with fine motor control it can be frustrating or just not accessible. Nowadays there are many online colouring sites that can be accessed via touchscreen or some type of mouse (there are many adaptive versions available) that make the relaxing experience of colouring more accessible. Here are three free sites that I really like.
colouring-for-adults.com
What I really like about this site:
🖍 The site can be accessed by mouse or touchscreen.
🖍 There are loads of pictures to choose from in a variety of different categories e.g. animals, flowers, landscapes, fashion or tattoos.
🖍 All the pictures are available to download or print as well as to colour online.
🖍 There are different play modes which make it ideal for differentiation. You can set it to colour by number, shape, mathematical operation, letter, symbol or just to colour.
🖍 You can print or save your completed pictures.
🖍 If using a colour-by mode the game doesn’t allow you to make a mistake and fill the wrong area with colour.
🖍 The site is easy to navigate and you don’t get ads popping up.
Not so keen on:
✏️ When you are using colour by number: once you have clicked on the colour selection which has a number on it each of those numbers are highlighted on the picture for you – it doesn’t make you look for them.
online-colouring.com
What I really like about this site:
🖍 You can access the colouring using touchscreen or mouse.
🖍 You can print the pictures or colour them online.
🖍 There is a huge variety of pictures to choose from in categories which include mandalas, excavators, marine mammals, unicorns, sports and many more.
🖍 There is a funky sound which plays when you fill an area with colour which some people would love – you can also easily turn it off!
🖍 You can print or save your completed colouring pages.
🖍 Ads appear on the screen but above the picture and don’t detract from it. On my iPad and laptop I was able to position the picture so I didn’t even see the ads.
Not so keen on:
✏️ The big pencil cursor. I find it distracting as it covers up elements of the picture close to where you want to colour. Also, like a pencil, it points downwards to the area to be coloured whereas a cursor usually points upwards on a computer screen.
coloringpaintinggames.com
What I really like about this site:
🖍 There are printable colouring pages and instructions about how to print them.
🖍 There is a selection of clear images on uncluttered backgrounds to colour.
🖍 A colour bar to the right of the picture shows clearly which colour has been selected.
🖍 There is some written information underneath the pictures to colour about the picture topic e.g. underneath the pictures for Valentine’s Day is some information about the day and how it is celebrated. However, highlighted words in the text which should lead to info-links don’t.
🖍 You can access this via mouse or touchscreen, however I did find it a bit more difficult to get rid of the ads on the iPad as my finger was too big for the little x. The colouring still worked well on the touchscreen though.
🖍 The colours are laid out clearly, a good size and easy to select.
Not so keen on:
✏️ I couldn’t see a way to print or save a completed picture. You could save a picture by taking a screenshot or a snip though.
✏️ There is a sound when you colour an area that I couldn’t find how to turn off which could be distressing or distracting for some people.
✏️ Ads are more apparent on this site as you move between pictures, however they don’t appear across a picture you are actually colouring in.
I hope you have fun trying out these free online colouring websites. If there are any you would like to recommend I would love to hear from you.
If you or someone you know enjoys using computers for artwork why not check out our suggestions for great free online art programs too 😀.
