2 COLORING PAGES: PRETTY PUMPKINS & A JACK-O-LANTERN
Coloring isn’t just for kids anymore. For the last couple of years, coloring books for adults have literally kept the book business alive. There’s something about coloring that soothes the soul. Some avid “color-istas” even host coloring parties, no kids allowed!
Taking time to color a pretty picture is great for those of us whose lives are hurried and harried and who need to slow down. (And I’m afraid that describes a whole lot of adults these days–me included.) But coloring with your kids has additional benefits: it creates connections. It lets your kids know that they’re important to you, and that time spent together is as much fun for you as it is for them.
So download and print one or both of these sweet coloring pages, get out the crayons–and inspire your kids with a few fun facts about pumpkins and other types of winter squash while you color together.
It’ll be fun!
Yours for Healthy Fun,
Barbara Jean the Story Queen
Pumpkin painting used and adapted with permission of Ben Mann. Rabbits and jack-o-lantern clipart created by j4p4n and used with permission from openclipart.org via creativecommons.org.
ABOUT THE STORY QUEEN
First, a disclaimer: I’m not a doctor. I’m not a nutritionist. I’m not a chef. I’m not even a mom. What I know about healthy food and healthy eating I’ve learned by reading and doing, just like you.
What I am is a children’s book author. A Story Queen! My area of expertise is FUN. In the last dozen years, I’ve written a number of entertaining, award-winning picture books–about monsters, cats, Disney princesses–and veggies, of all things.
I’m big on imagination. Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli encourages kids (the way my dad encouraged my siblings and me) to think of broccoli as crunchy, munchy, fun-to-eat trees. Once Upon a Parsnip is a fairytale rematch between Little Red Riding Hood (a vegetarian) and the Big Bad Wolf (NOT a vegetarian). Scary fun!
On the surface, neither of my veggie books is really about healthy eating–they’re just plain fun. But the fun is subversive: both books introduce and normalize the idea of eating healthy, fresh-from-the-garden vegetables. (Never underestimate the power of fun to get your kids to try something new!)
My goal in these pages is to find and share fun ways to introduce fresh fruits and vegetables to children and to normalize healthy foods and healthy eating in their experience. My means is to expose them–through you, their parents and caregivers–to food-friendly books, videos, downloadable and printable posters and coloring pages, hands-on activities and kid-friendly recipes. Anything that equates healthy food and FUN!
I’m here for you–to help you make healthy eating feel as natural to your children as breathing.
Because healthy food and healthy fun make healthy kids. And that’s something all of us can get behind.
Sincerely,
Barbara Jean Hicks, a.k.a. “The Story Queen”
barbarajeanhicks.com
To purchase signed, personalized copies of my picture books, visit the “Books” page on my website. To contact me about my well regarded young author presentations for schools, or for other enquiries, send an email from the “Contact” page at barbarajeanhicks.com. I look forward to hearing from you!