This easy project is a great way to help little ones develop the hand-eye coordination to color within the lines. In this case literally, thanks to bumpy raised lines made from pipe cleaners.

As Veronika played with a few extra pipe cleaners, I arranged others in simple shapes like triangles, squares, and circles on sheets of construction paper, and then taped them down.

Then I simply showed her how to use crayon to color within the shapes. She loved choosing which color to use in which shape.

It was neat to watch her reaction when her crayon came up against the pipe cleaner “bumper”, forcing her to stay within the lines. I could see her brain working as she realized she had to stop her crayon before it ran over he edges.

In sum, this is a great early lesson on pen control, which is the first step towards drawing all those shapes…down the line.