As children we all used to enjoy the coloring time, sitting down with a new color book, crayons, watercolors and oil pastels. The benefits of coloring have been long known for young adults and toddlers, but research has been successfully discovered the benefits for senior citizens and older adults. At Echoing ageing healthy we provide personalized therapeutic art activities to our clients, a lot of our clients have reported/ experienced the following benefits of receiving therapeutic art care.
These are the few benefits of therapeutic coloring
Research performed by the American Art Therapy Association has discovered that adults who engage in the practice of therapeutic coloring experience feelings of decreased stress, have more confidence, and enjoy an overall greater sense of calm and serenity. These emotional and psychological benefits are rooted in the physiological changes that occur when an individual is lost in a world of peaceful landscapes, architecture, mandalas, and other engaging subjects that adult coloring books provide (Poet’s Walk”, n.d.).
- Improved motor and gross skills: Coloring requires senior adults to hold the objects such as crayons, paint brushes, sketch pens to do the coloring and this facilitates movement in the hand, wrist, and fingers as the client need to move the object in hand to form an artwork.
- Improved focus and concentration: Art therapy has shown that art improves the mind’s ability to focus and increases the concentration in the being.
- Stress relief: Art therapy has been known in shifting the focus towards mindfulness and relaxation from tension or anxiety. Doing art facilitates the emotion of happiness and relief, which allows mood elevation in the client.
- A boost in self-confidence: Making art allows a person to free themselves of pent up insecurities, emotions or anxiety through artwork. This allows senior adults to feel a sense of accomplishment and appreciation for self through the formation of art.
- Positivity: Coloring artwork such as mandala and scenery facilitates positive emotion in the client because mandalas are scientifically created in a manner to promote positivity and decrease negativity.
At Echoing healthy ageing, we witness these benefits first hand with our clients.