As you probably know, adult colouring books have become really popular in the last year or so.  There have been many detailed and intricate colouring books popping up all over the place.  The whole ‘adult colouring revolution’ has kind of passed me by as I never even considered trying it out.  In December Anya was gifted Animal Kingdom – A Colouring Book Adventure for her birthday.  I barely glanced at it until Anya asked me to colour with her.  She often asks me to do this with her but up to now it’s been with her kiddy colouring books which I would colour in for about 5 minutes and lose interest.

Once I started colouring in this book, I couldn’t stop.  I loved it!  I think it re-awakened the inner child in me but yet it was so much more interesting to colour than a regular kids colouring book.  And not only me but Anya is loving this book too.  Even though these books are sold more as adult colouring books, I think they are for any age over around 5 years old.  When I first saw it I thought the patterns may be a bit too intricate for Anya but I was wrong. In fact it’s the minute details that capture her attention and mine.

I think the best thing about the Animal Kingdom colouring book for me was that it was a shared activity that both Anya and I enjoyed doing together.  No screens, no distractions, no thinking – just me and Anya colouring together and chatting a lot.  We both switched off from the world around us and were immersed in colouring and talking about anything and everything.  So much so that when it was time to go out for lunch, neither of us wanted to leave and we even started thinking up excuses to cancel our plans!

Have you got one of these books?  If not, do you think you will give colouring a go in 2016?