The present invention relates to coloring or writing books and the like and more particularly, to such books provided with inwardly foldable stencils that assist and train children to color and/or write more carefully, artistically and neatly.
Coloring and writing books for children are widely known and used in the art. Typically, these books provide to the child various defined spaces within an overall picture or the like, or text formed with a double line pen, for the child to fill the spaces with different colors or just ink or the like or just to trace. Coloring books develop the motor and hand and eye coordination skills of the child and play an important role in the development of the child's writing and drawings skills.
In their initial attempts to use coloring and writing books, children become frustrated due their inability to keep the coloring pen or marker within the bounds indicated in the coloring or writing sheets, which sometimes discourages their need to continue and persevere with the sometimes frustrating learning and developing tasks.
It is an object of the present invention to provide children with coloring and writing books that provide initial assistance to children, which makes the learning experience more enjoyable.
The foregoing and other objects of the invention are realized with a coloring or writing book that incorporates within itself fold-in stencils for the child to use in a manner that assures nice and neat results. Thereby, the child's learning experience becomes more pleasurable, and he or she is encouraged to continue working and developing their hand/eye coordination skills.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a page of a coloring book includes on each side edge thereof an extension sheet that constitutes one of several stencils for the given coloring book page, more specifically, one portion or color of the page. For example, each foldable panel may be dedicated for one color marker for the child to fill in on the coloring page.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, each coloring page has associated therewith four, or as many as eight, foldable stencil panels. For example, four of the panel may be connected to the coloring page at only one corner edge region thereof.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, the stencil panels are bound together and the coloring page is bound into the book at 90°, 180°, or 270°, relative to the hinge line of the stencils so as to be insertable below any one of the stencils.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
The coloring sheet 12 may comprise, as shown in
The coloring sheet need not be limited to pictorial or graphic symbols. For example, it may filled with cursive letters, and the stencils may be used by the child to trace the letters and then enjoy the writing that was created on the sheet 12.
To assist the child in aligning the folding over of a stencil panel onto the sheet 12, alignment grooves 36a, 36b, 36c and 36d may be provided, respectively, on panels 14, 18, 16 and 20, to align with the markings 34b, 34c, 34d and 34a on the sheet 12.
While in its simplest form, a single stencil would be designed to instruct a child to apply one particular color, it is within the ambit of the invention that a single stencil can have several different sections to apply different colors with an indication next to the each cutout section which color is to be applied at the indicated area, such as by providing a color mark adjacent each cutout. Nonetheless, where more than four stencils might be useful to have, the invention provides additional stencil panels such as those provided at the four corners of the coloring page 12, namely the panels 22, 24, 26 and 28. Each of these corner panels is attached to the sheet at a respective web section, for example, at the web sections 22a, 24a, 26a and 28a, so that these panels can be lifted and aligned over the sheet 12, including through the use of the alignment slits, such as the slits 38a, 38b, 38c and 38d which align respectively with the markings 34b, 34d, 34d and 34b, respectively.
In the embodiment of
As shown in
As described above, the coloring sheets and the book in which they can be incorporated, allow a child to create color pictures, or to create pictures from scratch, or to practice writing words, all for the purpose of creating more precisely rendered work and to train and develop a child's hand/eye coordination to the enjoyment of the child and her parents, teachers, friends and the like. The stencil panels can be provided with written instructions which indicate to the child how the stencils are to be used, and what colors or other steps are to be used. The stencils may be made of paper, plastic and of washable or non-washable materials, allowing the child or an adult to monitor the child's ability to keep the markings off the stencils.
In the embodiment of
The coloring page includes a small extension 60b which is glued or otherwise fastened to the base page 56. As noted, the coloring page can be folded underneath any of the stencil pages. For example, in
It will readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, that a single coloring book can be provided with a plurality of the coloring pages 60, each with an associated set of stencils.
Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.