One thing that has been apparent over the last year, during the school closures and various lockdowns, is how much screen time children have been having. However, there’s absolutely no judgement on this from me as to be honest, most of it has been unavoidable. A lot of home learning from schools had to be via screens and juggling multiple children/ jobs etc. has been near impossible without the help of the TV, computers and tablets. But now that we are getting back to some sort of normality (fingers tightly crossed) I wanted to share with you a fantastic range of resources that are screen free and have the added bonus of being incredibly therapeutic and relaxing. They are Sequin Art’s range of children’s painting by numbers.

Painting by numbers, if you’ve not come across it before, are sets that have a picture divided into small sections. Each of the sections are numbered to paint in the corresponding numbered paint colour. Allowing people of all abilities and artistic talent to create the picture. Sequin Art* have brought out a range of painting by numbers sets for children. They have differentiated the sets for age groups, with projects suitable for children aged 4+, 8+ and 10+ (with the 4+ sets being the simplest). They have a range of different pictures to choose from including animals, space, people, scenes and buildings.

What did we like about them?

• Therapeutic – One thing that struck me about painting by numbers is how relaxing they are for children (and adults). Because they need to concentrate on which area to paint, in which numbered colour and trying to stay in the lines- there’s very little opportunity for them to worry about anything else. It’s a fantastic tool for escapism and I love that it’s screen free and can be completed together as a family activity. A really positive resource that has the potential to have huge mental health benefits for children and their grown ups. We’ve seen the children enjoy them so much that we’ve gone and bought our own one to do on an evening!

• Sparks Creativity– Art and creativity doesn’t come naturally to all children and children can often feel demotivated if they don’t feel their artwork is ‘good enough’. Painting by numbers enables children of all abilities and artistic talent to be able to achieve. Not only is the sense of achievement when they’ve completed it, wonderful for self-esteem but it also has the potential to create that initial spark and love of art and creativity. Hopefully developing a love of painting for the future. After all, art can be wonderful for expressing themselves, relaxing and having fun. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if after completing a paint by numbers project, a child then went on to have a lifelong love, hobby or even career in art.

• Develops number recognition– If you’re working on recognising numbers with your child, paint by number sets can be a really valuable resource for this. Throughout the activity children need to read the numbers in the sections of the picture, find the corresponding numbered pot of paint and then paint. This is brilliant for helping children develop their number recognition, processing skills and short-term memory. And what’s even better is, children are very unlikely to see this as a ‘maths’ activity as it’s painting! It just has the added bonus of helping them with their numeracy.

• Fine Motor Control & Concentration – Two other skills that paint by numbers can help to develop are fine motor skills and concentration. Firstly, holding the paintbrush, opening the pots and painting within the lines all requires fine motor skills. Fine motor skill activities develop the tiny muscles in the hands and fingers that are fundamental for learning to write (among other things). Find out more about fine motor skills here. Painting by numbers can also help with concentration skills, as children are required to practise concentrating on the colours they need and the areas they are painting in.

• Doesn’t matter if they ‘go wrong’ – I particularly love that it really doesn’t matter if a child ‘goes wrong’ whilst doing the paint by numbers. Often it adds to the charm of the final picture. But also, if they didn’t want the mistake to be seen, as the paints dry really quickly, they can just paint over it with the correct colour. This is fantastic again for self esteem and confidence.

• Differentiated – The team at Sequin Art have cleverly differentiated their paint by number sets into three distinct ranges, making them accessible to a vast range of ages and abilities. Their simplest painting by number sets ‘My First Paints’ are aimed at children working at aged 4 level and above and they have made it easy for young children by having larger sections to paint within and less colours. The more complex ‘Senior Painting By Numbers’ sets are great for adults and children aged 10+. They have much smaller sections, more colours and even some sections that have two numbers in them, requiring the child to have a go at mixing two coloured paints together. Having differentiated ranges also means children can progress through the sets, again adding to their sense of achievement and self esteem.

Find Sequin Art’s paint by number sets on their website here.

*Please note, that we received samples for review and this post is sponsored. All opinions are our own.