The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse - A unique coloring game.

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse is a coloring game, a first of its kind for me. Whether you use markers, colored pencils, or crayons, coloring is an activity that many kids like and that is great for helping develop fine motor and general hand skills. It's also a way to get a writing tool into the hands of reluctant writers. I've passed out many a color book and box of crayons in my day. Unfortunately, they are not making color books like they used to. If you go to Walmart, a color book is likely to cost you $6. The dollar store still carries them but they are called activity books, and half of the pages are devoted to puzzles, mazes, and the like. 

 
The object of The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, according to the box, is to "explore the painter's color palette in this cooperative game of self-expression." My ideas are quite different, but as we know, one game can work on many different skills. 

This game comes with very simple drawings of several different animals (lion, bear, fox, crocodile, horse, donkey, cow) on plain white paper. Pictures are L 5" x W 2 3/4" and each animal is divided into four sections.

LEFT - Spinner.                         RIGHT - Game Board.

 

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse also includes a spinner with a free moving arrow. I will list what each space on the spinner means in the rules below. There is also a game board with 26 spaces.

Object: 

Complete a masterpiece by coloring a picture.

Set up: 

Place the game board, spinner, and coloring implements in the middle of the table. Place a pawn on start (see board in image below).

Play: 

In turn, each player will spin the spinner. The options that may come up are as follows:

• 1-4 - Move the pawn ahead on the board the number of spaces indicated. Everyone colors one section of his animal with the color indicated on the space.
• Any color X 2 - The person who is spinning chooses two colors that all players will use to color a section of their animal.
• Trade animals - Players trade their unfinished pictures and end up working on other's masterpieces.

The game ends when all sections of the animals are colored and everyone enjoys all the masterpieces.

If you would like to read more about games that require writing or drawing in some form, check out my post Games That Require a Writing Tool.  

Try this:

• Use pencils instead of the included crayons.
• Use your own pictures or coloring books for more variety, a longer game, and to customize the skill level or subject of interest to your individual color-er.
• Follow the path on the game board with your eyes and touch each color as you name it. Do this before the game to familiarize yourself with the colors.
• Tape the animals in a long line on the wall as you finish coloring them. Make a parade of animals for everyone to enjoy. A good chance to practice using a tape dispenser. Make up a story about what is happening with the animals.
• Lay the crayons on the table upside down so that when an individual picks one up, he will have the opportunity to rotate and shift in-hand for correct placement for coloring.
• Practice flicking the arrow with different fingers to thumb. Look for the big circle in the web space before flicking.
• Practice distal rotation by coloring in the animals using small circular motions. I call it giving the animal "curly fur".
• Enlarge the pictures on a copy machine if the individual cannot color precisely enough for this size. Then reduce the picture incrementally until they can.
• Work on visual discrimination, visual closure, eye-hand coordination, fine motor precision, dynamic grasp, finger isolation, separation of two sides of the hand, coordinated use of both hands, thumb to finger, developing web space, coloring, manual dexterity, executive functioning skills, social interaction skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: Game board, spinner, 4 pawns, 144 sheets animal coloring pad, 8 crayons

If you are interested in purchasing this item or just want more information, click on the image below.