Patent Application
20090061394
The present invention is directed to a coloring sheet, and, more particularly, to a coloring sheet with raised lines to guide a user's tracing and/or coloring.
Preschool children and others learning to draw or write may utilize tools, guides or the like to aid in their development. Such tools, guides or the like may help to develop the user's writing instrument control skills, visual motor control skills, fine motor control skills, visual perception skills and bilateral coordination skills. The development of these skills helps to advance and improve the user's writing and drawing skills.
In one embodiment, the invention is a coloring sheet including a sheet of paper and a design formed on the sheet of paper. The design is at least partially formed by a pair of parallel, adjacent raised lines, wherein the adjacent raised lines are spaced apart by a distance of less than about ½ inch.
As shown in
The sheet of paper 12 can be made from any of a wide variety of materials, but will typically be made of a cellulose-based or pulp-based paper such that the paper 12 is generally water absorbent and can be written upon a wide variety of media (i.e., pens, pencils, markers, crayons etc.) The sheet 12 may be relatively thin, and may have a thickness of about 0.5 mm or less. However, the sheet 12 can be made of any of a relatively wide variety of materials, and need not necessarily be of a water-absorbent material (i.e. could be a write-on/wipe off (polymer) material that can be re-used, etc.) The sheet 12 may be of a generally white color to encourage coloring thereon, such as by crayon or the like. However, the sheet 12 can be any of a variety of other colors.
Each design 14 may be at least partially designed or formed by a pair of parallel, adjacent raised lines 16 (i.e. each line of the designs 14 of
Each pair of raised lines 16 may define a gap 18 therebetween. Each gap 18 is sized and shaped to receive the tip of a writing instrument 20 therein to guide the writing instrument 20 as the user guides the writing instrument 20 between the raised lines 16. In this manner a user can write along the length of the gap 18 as the writing instrument 20 is drawn along the length of the raised lines 16. The raised lines 16 help to keep the writing instrument 20 retained between the lines 16 and within the gap 18, thereby increasing the user's skill and success with visual motor control.
The gap 18 may be sufficiently small, and/or the writing instrument 20 may be sufficiently large, such that when the writing instrument 20 writes along the bottom of the gap 18 the writing instrument 20 simultaneously engages both opposed raised lines 16. This feature can be useful for a user who needs to develop more basic writing/drawing skills, and to encourage the user's confidence. Alternately, if desired, the gap 18 may be sufficiently large, and/or the writing instrument 20 may be sufficiently small, such that when writing instrument 20 writes along the bottom of the gap 18 the writing instrument 20 does not engage either raised line 16 if the writing instrument 20 is sufficiently centered. In this case, when the user strays sufficiently off center, the writing instrument 20 will engage one of the raised lines 16, thereby guiding the writing instrument 20 and providing tactile feedback to the user.
Thus the size (i.e. horizontal dimension of the flat area between the raised lines 16) of the gap 18 can be adjusted as desired, and may have a size of less than about ½″, and may range between about 1/16″ and about ½″. Each raised line 16 can have a height that is between about 0.05 mm and about 1 mm, and more particularly between about 0.1 mm and about 0.4 mm above the remainder of the sheet 12 to provide sufficient height to provide guidance and feedback, but not to be so high as to block the writing instrument 20 from writing/drawing on the gap 18.
A user can thus fill in or color the outer perimeter of the design 14, or other areas of the design 14, defined by the raised lines 16 by guiding the writing instrument 20 between the raised lines 16 in the manner described above. Differing colors can be used in the differing gaps 18 as desired. For example, for the flower design 14 shown in
Moreover, the generally closed areas (or “field” areas) 20 defined or bounded by the raised lines 16 can also be colored, as desired. The field areas 20 can be colored with the same color as that used in the outer perimeter pair of raised lines 16, or with a differing color. For example, returning to the example of the flower of
Various sheets 12 can be bound together to provide a coloring book including various sheets 12 as described herein. Each sheet 12 may include only a single design 14, or, if desired, can include multiple designs 14 thereon.
Each sheet 10 may include or carry thereon at least one hand cue 22 upon which a user can place his or her hand to manually stabilize the sheet 10 during use 22. Each hand cue 22 may include or take the form of a visual cue 21. In the illustrated embodiment, the visual cue 21 takes the form of a visual representation (i.e. drawing, design, photograph or the like) of a hand to cue or encourage a user to place his or her hand on the hand cue 22. However, the visual cue 21 can take the form of other indicia besides a hand. For example some other indicia 21 (by way of example, a star, or the letter “H,” although nearly any sort of indicia can be used) may be provided on the sheet 10. A user may be taught (i.e. by the sheet 10, by associated instructions/packaging, by a teacher or parent, etc.) that the indicia 21 is to be associated with hand stabilization. In this case, when a user sees the visual cue 21 the user is prompted to stabilize the sheet 10 with his or her non-dominant (i.e. non-writing) hand.
Teachers typically have difficulty ensuring that their students properly stabilize their sheets 10 during use. Accordingly, the hand cues 22 serve as a constant reminder to the user to encourage proper stabilization and use of the sheet 10.
Each hand cue 22 may be positioned at or adjacent to the outer perimeter of the sheet 10 to ensure proper hand placement. In particular, encouraging a user to place his or her stabilization hand at or adjacent to the outer edge of the sheet 10 ensures that maximum stabilization force is exerted while ensuring that the stabilization hand does not interfere with writing operations on the sheet 10. Thus, at least part of each hand cue 22 may be located within about 3 inches of the outer edge of the sheet 10, or within about 10% or 20% of the height or width of the sheet 10 of the outer edge.
The sheet 10 may include a hand cue 22 on both the left and right sides of the sheet 10 (with the “left” and “right” orientation being taken from the perspective of a user viewing the sheet in a normal configuration as shown in
The development of pre-writing shapes is important in developing proper writing and drawing skills. In particular, the nine pre-writing shapes 26, as shown in
Coloring within boundaries is an important skill that facilitates the development of visual discrimination (the ability to recognize subtle differences) which is needed for alignment of letters (on lined paper) and proofreading skills. Tracing around an area before coloring the area also increases the user's ability to successfully color the area within the lines, and also develops the visual motor control to draw within pathways. Coloring also develops writing instrument control. Tracing around an area before coloring is one strategy that increases a child's success with coloring within the lines.
Moreover, coloring within narrow pathways develops fine motor control and is a prerequisite for writing on lined paper. These tasks also develop visual tracking skills which facilitates reading and writing fluency, and precision at the fingertips which allows for writing more efficiently and with decreased letter size. The sheet 10 may be packaged for sale along with a set of instructions that instruct a user (or a user's parents, teachers, etc.) to use the sheet 10 in the manner described herein.
Having described the invention in detail and by reference to the various embodiments, it should be understood that modifications and variations thereof are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.
