The Therapeutic Effects of Coloring

Coloring as an effective intervention for anxiety in children and adults has gained recent attention in the world of psychological science. Within the last five years, there has been a growing interest and demand for adult coloring books, with 1.5 million adult coloring books sold in 2015. A series of studies found that for undergraduate students, activities like coloring and building with LEGOS significantly reduced student anxiety, depression, and stress (Shields, Hunnell, Tucker, and Price, 2020; Eaton & Tieber, 2017) causing campuses across the nation to break out the art supplies during midterms and final exams. While there has been a convergence of evidence that art generally, and coloring specifically helps to soothe anxious adults, the potential therapeutic impact for younger learners is still being explored by developmental scientists.

A recent paper published in the Journal of Applied School Psychology is one of the first to find evidence that coloring can be an effective classroom tool for anxious children. In this study, 52 elementary-age school children were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (mandala-coloring or free-coloring) for 15 minutes.

Children in both groups saw significant reductions in classroom anxiety, however, on average, boys had greater anxiety reduction in the free-coloring activity, while girls had great anxiety reduction in the structured-coloring activity. To investigate the gender effect observed in this study, researchers conducted a secondary analysis on the coloring pages. This analysis revealed that approximately 50% of the boys in the mandala activity colored over the lines, suggesting that elementary-aged males had more difficulty with the fine motor skills required in the mandala condition, reducing its capacity to alleviate anxiety for boys.

With nearly a third of children in elementary school reporting performance-based anxiety related to academic success (Lowe & Lee, 2008), coloring may serve as an accessible intervention for classroom-based anxiety. Educators hoping to leverage the therapeutic potential of coloring however should be mindful of its limitations and the unique needs of their students.