This is a CCSD High School student taking an Art Break while preparing for end of year testing. I was surprised how interested the older kids have become in coloring as a way to take a mental break during school. It makes sense because it relieves stress no matter what age. I've noticed kids really like chatting about their creative process and how they decide which colors to use as they plan out what they want their final image to look like. It's a part of our minds that sit

This drawing page is from my Cat Lady Art Series and I found it really interesting that while on assignment as a Substitute Teacher for CCSD in Las Vegas, working with High School boys, they were really into this series. Not that they wouldn't be, I guess, I just thought maybe only people with cats would be interested. They love the whole series, particularly the Black Panther, Leopard, Caracal and Bobcats. Coloring is therapeutic at all ages! Search my website for "Cat Lady"

This Swallowtail Butterfly is part of my ABCs Art Brain Breaks Activity Book which is a Digital Download and available for immediate access for you to pull down, print out, and get to making fun little art projects. This is the B is for Butterfly page in the 26- animal and insect book that includes print out you can use to color then hole punch, string up, and turn your art into an ornament or all sort of other fun little projects. This is the beginning of one of the butterfl

These kids are 2nd graders at a school in Henderson, NV who decided to move their butterfly coloring project off the page and into the air. They built bridge strips to tape between the wings so the butterflies could sit on their desks as pets during class. More of them joined in and started creating their own versions of flowers the butterflies could use for food as they flew around the room, and others started building plant stalks and larger gathering areas where all the bu

One of the students in this 2nd grade class asked if they could have an extra 5 minutes to cut out their butterflies so they could make them fly like paper airplanes. Once she did she realized the paper wings weren't strong enough or aerodynamic and so butterflies wouldn't fly like planes. She decided she need to put a bridge of paper between it's wings so they would stay up and it could sit with its wings up and would be better suited sitting still, eating nectar from a flow

This is how the coloring usually starts, all organized and purposeful then it grows from there. I suggest working in 5-10 minute increments so students can keep track of time and start to understand what they can accomplish in small bursts throughout the day vs. only doing one large block of art. This was a class in Henderson, NV and these students really made a lot of traction within each 10-15 minute window of time we spent throughout the day. It was really interesting to

This is by a student in a Primary Autism class from October 2025. She had a lot of energy and was pretty active throughout the day so it was cool to see her find the Rice Paper Butterfly interesting enough to sit with them for a while and color them with classmates all working on other butterflies and caterpillars they had chosen as well. Las Vegas, 2025

This is axolotl coloring project was a group effort by about 7-8 3rd graders who worked toward earning an art lesson by me on how to use my drawing program, on my iPad, using my ABCs animal character, "A is for Axolotl", where each student had the same set of instructions I gave all of them at the same time. They knew we only had enough time for each student to spend 5 minutes drawing on their own on the iPad, so they decided to pick one of my images to color and let each per

This is from one of the 3rd grade students who was pretty quiet throughout the day and sort of kept to herself. She colored a few pages in my Resilient Oakland Coloring Book I usually bring with me for kids who like to color in storylines. She moved to the individual animal pages and focused a lot on the birds in the series, a Barn Owl, particularly. I love the painterly brush strokes in yellow, you can see how much power she sees them having. September 2025 Las Vegas, NV

The kids in this class were so full of personality and specific interests I was amazed at all the ways they decided to communicate with me during my time visiting as their substitute teacher. The Special Education Teacher's Assistant ran the class like a well oiled machine and the kids love her. One student, who did not speak, was particularly fond of drawing and sat for most of the day coloring and drawing all sorts of ideas throughout the day. I offered him one of my Atla