I had so much fun on my coloring retreat with my daughter.  We like to get together once a year just to create.  Sometimes we sew sometimes we make things for the children.

This year she wanted to make file folder activities that she could take to church or use for quiet time at home.  I was so glad:). We used a book that I made file folders for her when she was young!  



Here was our material list:

• A Finch Family Fun Games file folder book. You can buy these on Amazon.
• Pastels 
• Colored Markers
• Colored card stock 
• Spray glue
• Scissors
• Sticky back magnet roll
• Facial tissue and ear swabs
• Large eraser
• Laminator and laminate
• File folders 
• Letter envelopes
• Clear packing tape

That is a big list! We already had most of these items.  I bought the new box of pastels.  They were at Hobby Lobby on sale..  yea!!  Pretty!

Have you ever colored with pastels?  They are so easy and fun!  Once you color with them, there is no going back to any other way!

Here was my first page:

Really,  I just laid down my color, not even to the edges and the just blended the chalk with a tissue or swab.   I then added shading and highlights the same way:)

Here it is again, I laid down the color, took a tissue and blended it to the edges.

Wow!  Look how neat that looks:)!   Another cool thing about coloring with pastels is that they are erasable.  So if you go too far out of the lines, no problem. Just erase and you are good as new.  How cool is that?!

Adding outlining with marker is the next step. 

While it looks nice here,  the shading and colors are so pretty:)

It looks brighter and more vibrant here.  But be warned, marker is NOT erasable! Lol:). Oh well, a little patch job and a 3year old will never know.  There is going to be a magnet there anyway. It’s all good:). 

It was messy, fun work.  We enjoyed the days just  coloring, cutting, visiting, and helping my grandson color and cut as well.  I even took quite a few breaks and snuggled with my new grand baby:). It doesn’t get better than that!

The next step was laminating the pieces and adding the magnets.  Here is a close up of the magnets:

Magnets help keep the pieces from moving and getting lost while little hands play and squirm:). 

I added the title to the folder and taped an envelope to the back to hold the pieces.  FINISHED!

Isn’t it so cute? My grandson grabbed it and started matching the shapes, saying the colors, and pretended to eat the vegetables right way:). It was so SWEET!

We had such a fun time on our coloring retreat:). Using pastels definitely amps up the coloring.  We loved it!!  I hope you give it a try sometime. You will be so glad you did!

Thank you for dropping by!