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You are here: Home / Archives for Adult Coloring

Adult Coloring

Community Spotlight: A Retirement Home Coloring Series

Alissa Ellett Leave a Comment

BONUS CONTENT: Do you like this post? Want to get some bonus content NOT included in this post? This week’s PDF includes our list of the 5 Takeaways from Lutheran Living’s experience of using our coloring posters with their retirement community. If you’re interested in this exclusive, bonus content, click here to get access to download the PDF

Hey, all! Recently, we got to catch up with The Rev. Susan Bantz, Chaplain at Lutheran Living Senior Campus, a retirement community in Iowa. She gave us the inside scoop on the fun they had doing a retirement home coloring series this past Spring. Read on to find out more about their experience. You may even gather ideas for your own retirement home coloring series or hosting an adult coloring event in your congregation.

Retirement Home Coloring Series


A Conversation with Lutheran Living Senior Campus

Alissa: So, what brought you to Illustrated Ministry?

Susan: I saw the Advent coloring posters mentioned in a post on Facebook and then looked up ICM. Poof! An idea was born: Why couldn’t we do a retirement home coloring series by using the posters during Lent? Many of our residents color independently. This seemed like a great opportunity to do that in community as one of our retirement home activities.

Alissa: How did you use your coloring posters?

Susan: Our goal was to finish our retirement home coloring series by Lent. That way, we’d display the posters on the chapel walls during worship. First, we held a couple adult coloring workshops. Then, we began bringing the posters out to fill time before Bingo every week. We also had them available when planned activities were cancelled. And slow Sunday afternoons were a great time to work on them, too. Additionally, we left them out in the chapel for anyone who wanted to color in a quiet, contemplative space.

Alissa: What was the make-up of the group that used the materials?

Susan: Most of those involved in our retirement home coloring series were residents. We also had staff, family members, and other visitors who lent a hand to the project, even just for a minute or two! It was a good bonding experience for staff and residents, especially. Even people who professed to not like coloring would often do a little corner.

Adult Coloring
Adults Coloring Posters
Older Man Coloring a Poster
Retirement Coloring Posters

Feedback and Reflection

Alissa: What was the feedback you received?

Susan: The residents loved having a retirement home coloring series! Many of them color in their rooms on their own already. So, this experience showed them that coloring can be a social activity as well. Our Activities Department is now offering regular adult coloring events for the residents!

Alissa: What was surprising about the experience?

Susan: Seeing how into the whole adult coloring thing so many people got! During the weeks of our retirement home coloring series, quite a few declared that certain sections were “theirs.” They made it clear that everyone else should keep their colored pencils elsewhere. It became a lesson in understanding that not everyone’s vision is the same, but somehow it all comes out right in the end when we compromise.

Alissa: How did it rate when compared with other activities you’ve done?

Susan: Many of our activities are more passive. But adult coloring was something almost everyone could do: those with dementia, those in wheelchairs, those who struggle with motor skills. Nothing had to be perfect—it just had to be theirs. And they really embraced it!

BONUS CONTENT: Download your exclusive bonus content here.

Adult Coloring Fosters Stories & Conversations

Alissa: Were there any fun stories?

Susan: So many! Early on, we were using all kinds of bright colors and discovered later that we’d made Jesus’ hair a rainbow. And the fact that Jesus’ face ended up a different color on each poster surprised us, too. There was so much laughter and camaraderie shared around those tables. People often sat next to others they didn’t know as well, which formed new connections. The whole thing really built community and helped draw people out of their shells. (Read more on deepening relationships and creativity through coloring here!)

Adult Coloring Posters
Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters
Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters

Alissa: What kinds of conversations arose out of the activity?

Susan: We had a surprising number of theological discussions. Though, there was no formal instruction connected with the actual coloring. People talked about which verses or words resonated with them and how they tried to reflect that with their color choices. More formally, we used the posters during our Lenten midweek worship services. We hold those services in a dialogue format, so, we had the chance to discuss each of the posters in greater depth in a worshipful and contemplative context. After each service, we hung up the two we discussed. I invited people to come back at other times to contemplate the message of each station. (Learn an easy way to hang your completed posters here!)

Alissa: Would you recommend ICM coloring posters to other organizations like yours?

Susan: Absolutely! Their large size made coloring them a dream, especially for those with limited motor skills, eyesight issues, and other limitations. We are now in the process of trimming and laminating the posters so that we can use them in future years.

Alissa: What would you tell others considering ICM’s coloring posters for a retirement home coloring series?

Susan: Just do it! It doesn’t take much planning or prep. Be sure to have the supplies you want to use readily available. And the rewards your residents will get are totally worth it.

Adult Coloring Posters
Adult Coloring Posters
Adult Coloring Posters
Adult Coloring Posters
Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters
Adult Coloring Posters
Adult Coloring Posters
Adult Coloring Posters

Thanks a bunch, Susan! It’s always fun for all of us at ICM to hear how our materials are helping community and creativity thrive. To many more good memories and reflections, colored pencils in hand, for you all at Lutheran Living and the rest of us, too!

The folks at Lutheran Living were using our Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters. If you’d like to take a look at all of our coloring posters (and coloring sheets) that we have available, you can find them here.

Have you used our coloring posters in a retirement/nursing home setting? Share your story below!

BONUS CONTENT: Did you like this post? Want to get some bonus content NOT included in this post? This week’s PDF includes our list of the 5 Takeaways from Lutheran Living’s experience of using our coloring posters with their retirement community. If you’re interested in this exclusive, bonus content, click here to get access to download the PDF

Your Guide to Hosting a Successful Adult Coloring Night at Your Church

Adam Walker Cleaveland 1 Comment

Do you want to host a successful adult coloring night at your church? In this post, we’ll profile a church that has used Illustrated Ministry’s coloring posters and hosted two successful adult coloring nights.

Adult Coloring Night at Church
Members of St. Paul Lutheran Church (Davenport, Iowa) color some Illustrated Earth Coloring Posters
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT: Don’t have time to read this post right now? Want to download a resource guide that you can read later or share at your next staff meeting? Interested in three free coloring sheets? Click here to download your FREE resource guide and three coloring sheets.

I think it’s safe to say that the adult coloring craze is still a thing. Bookstores and publishers had predicted it would have been a thing of the past by now, but it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. It’s also safe to say that churches are generally a bit behind cultural trends, so it’s not surprising that I’ve just recently started to see more and more announcements about churches that are hosting adult coloring evenings. A few months ago, my mom told me that Book N Brush, the small bookstore in my hometown of Chehalis, Washington, was starting to host Coloring & Cocktails events. And it’s certainly not alone – bookstores and art studios and community centers around the country have begun hosting more and more adult coloring nights.

Now, if I’m being completely honest, if I had to choose between coloring at church or an event called Coloring & Cocktails…well, that’d be a tough choice. Or maybe your church has a more friendly alcohol-policy, and you can enjoy the best of both worlds.

But I digress.

Hosting a Successful Adult Coloring Night At Your Church: A Case Study

Adult Coloring Night at Church

A few weeks ago, I heard about a church in Davenport, Iowa that has hosted two successful adult coloring nights using our products, and I wanted to learn more about what they were doing that worked so well. I got in touch with their director of communication, Ann McGlynn, and she was kind enough to give us the who, what, where, when, why and how of their experience in hosting a successful adult coloring night at their church. With that, I’m going to hand it over to Ann, and let her share some of their church’s experiences with you.

St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa • Adult Coloring Nights

With colored pencils in hand, a crew of adults ages 20-90, gathered together on a weekday evening to color. Starting with a short devotion centered on the story of creation, women and men spent about an hour and a half creating, snacking, and talking.

This coloring night has become a few-times-a-year event at St. Paul Lutheran in Davenport, Iowa. Using the Illustrated Ministry posters, it is a shared time of simple togetherness and meeting new friends.

St. Paul member Kit Whan suggested the church hold adult coloring nights. With a few supplies, a few cookies, an online signup for RSVP, and the posters, a beloved event was born. Approximately 30 people attended the Lenten and Illustrated Earth coloring events. Another adult coloring night is planned for Advent in early December.

Who attends the adult coloring nights? College students, people who regularly color as prayer time, people who say they don’t have an artistic bone in their body, artists and people who love anything to do with art. The age range really is from 20-90. Most attend St. Paul, others come after hearing about it from their friends.

What does it entail? A beginning devotion, coloring (with supplies provided, but some people bring their own tools), cookies made by an attendee who also owns a bakery, lemonade and ice tea, and about an hour and a half of time. We ask people to RSVP through our website. There is no fee and the church picks up the cost. We do not publicize outside of the church, but that could most definitely be done with a quick news release or flyer.

Where is it? In one of our church commons area, with round tables that seat about 6-8 people. The completed works are hung up in the same commons area for a couple of weeks.

When? An evening that works with our church calendar, 6:30 – 8pm.

Why? Togetherness. Fellowship. Getting to know others. Connecting with God through art.

“Adult coloring has become a beloved event at St. Paul. It’s a simple, easy, laid-back time that brings people with all sorts of different interests together. It’s particularly fun to watch people of all different ages interact and laugh with each other and share in each other’s lives,” said Ann McGlynn, director of communication, who helps coordinate the events.

Hands Coloring a Poster

Why does an adult coloring night work so well?

While I have been out of serving in full-time parish ministry for just over one year, the last seven years I worked in a church, one of the aspects that was always lacking was meaningful fellowship and community opportunities. Sure you could talk with people at coffee hour after worship, or there was the annual pancake breakfast the youth put on to raise money for their mission trip to Mexico, but it was always difficult to come up with fun and easy programs to bring people together and not add a huge burden onto the staff (who already have too much to do with the little time they have).

St. Paul isn’t the only church that has hosted an adult coloring night at their church, and they weren’t the first. But when you read the description of their event that Ann gave above, it’s easy to see why it sounds so appealing and why it has been so successful. People are being pulled in too many directions in their lives today, and honestly, the church often contributes to the laundry list of responsibilities, programs, meetings, groups and more that individuals and families have to deal with throughout the week.

And yet with these adult coloring nights, people are just asked to show up, to be present, and to engage in conversation and fellowship with one another. Yes, there is an opening devotion, and yes, someone has to figure out the cookies and lemonade. But it sounds like St. Paul has figured out how to put together a very successful adult coloring night without making it labor intensive or a frustrating experience to plan, and I’m excited that they’re already planning their third adult coloring night for Advent.

Click on the photos below to see some more shots from St. Paul’s Adult Coloring Night, using our Illustrated Earth Coloring Posters.

Colored Pencils Coloring
Parable of the Sower Coloring Poster
Hand Coloring a Coloring Poster
Hands of Group Coloring a Coloring Poster
Young Women Coloring Together
Young Adult Coloring at Church

So, how do I host a successful adult coloring night?

Chances are high you have many people in your congregation who have already been to some type of an adult coloring activity, or at the very least, got an adult coloring book and some new colored pencils for Christmas last year or for their birthday. Figure out who those people are and start up the conversation about what it could look like to host an adult coloring night.

As you heard from Ann, you really don’t need to do much to prep for an adult coloring night. You’re going to need some colored pencils, crayons and markers (although, you should also encourage folks to bring their own as well) and you’re going to need something to color. I’ve included a couple free coloring sheets in the resource guide that you can download at the top or bottom of this post, and perhaps that will get you started. But one of the joys of this community experience is everyone being able to work to create something together.

That’s one of the reasons Illustrated Ministry started creating these large coloring posters. You can get many hands around each poster, each person getting to work on their own section. And that’s when the great conversations start. People huddled together, creating art together and engaging in each other’s lives in ways that they may not have before. We talk a bit about that in our video about why we think coloring is more than just a trend.

Of course, no church event would be complete without some food, so grab some lemonade, coffee or a more fancy adult beverage, if your church’s alcohol policy is a bit more lenient…and please check into it if you’re not sure…Illustrated Ministry cannot be held responsible for any trouble you might get into with your Church Board/Session if you don’t check. 🙂

Another thing I noticed was that St. Paul’s Adult Coloring Nights were based on a theme. They first did one during Lent, then they had a focus on creation with the Illustrated Earth Coloring Posters and now they will have another one for Advent. So, maybe you want to do something similar. Or find posters or coloring books all based on the same type of designs; maybe it’s animals and plants one time and mandalas the next time.

So, there you go. Get some coloring posters or books. Bring along crayons, markers and colored pencils. Get some food. Oh, and music. I always like a little background music for events like this. And think outside the box a little bit here. It doesn’t need to be Celtic Treasures or some other church music. I quite like coloring to Coldplay, The Martian Soundtrack, or anything by The Weepies. Actually, if you want some really great chill background music, be sure to check out Ásgeir’s album, In the Silence.

Alright, go host your own adult coloring night!

While there isn’t any one right way to host a successful adult coloring night at your church, I hope this post has given you some ideas to ponder. And now it’s up to you! Whether you use the free coloring sheets included in this post’s resource guide, you decide to look into some of our large coloring posters, or find your own materials, I hope you’ll consider how easy it can be to get adults together for a time of simply being together. And when you give people time to simply be together, you’ll be amazed at the new relationships that will form and the depth of conversation and relating with one another that will take place.

If you are looking for a few different large poster options that you could use, check out our links below. The only posters we have in stock to ship are our Illustrated Earth Coloring Posters. But the others are all available immediate via a digital download.

  • In stock: Illustrated Earth Coloring Posters
  • Illustrated Earth Coloring Sheets: 8.5″×11″ version
  • Advent Posters: Digital Files Only
  • Advent Posters: Digital Files Only (in Spanish)
  • Advent Coloring Sheets: 8.5″x11″ version (in Spanish)
  • Advent Coloring Sheets: 8.5″×11″ version
  • Inspired Posters: Digital Files Only

If you’ve hosted successful adult coloring nights at your church, please share your fun and creative ideas in the comments!

DON’T FORGET: Don’t forget to download your 16-page resource guide for learning how to host an adult coloring night at your church – you will also get three free coloring sheets.  Click here to download your FREE resource guide and three coloring sheets.

If you liked this post, please consider sharing:

Are you interested in hosting an adult coloring night at your church, but not exactly sure how to pull it off? We’re…

Posted by Illustrated Ministry on Thursday, August 25, 2016

Check out our free guide for hosting a successful adult coloring night at your church! https://t.co/VfU3T2TBXQ #adultcoloring #coloring

— Children’s Ministry (@IllustratedCM) August 25, 2016

Are you interested in hosting an adult coloring night at your church, but not exactly sure how to pull it off? We’re here to help. Many thanks to St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa for sharing about their experience of their Adult Coloring Nights. EXCLUSIVE CONTENT! Be sure to download the resource guide which includes the post so that you can easily share it with others during church staff meetings, and it also includes three free coloring sheets. Link is in our profile! #ministry #whatpastorsdo #coloringbooks #adultcoloringbook #adultcoloringbooks

A photo posted by Illustrated Children’s Min (@illustratedcm) on Aug 25, 2016 at 9:57am PDT

Coloring to Connect on a Mission Trip to Mexico

Adam Walker Cleaveland 1 Comment

Since we’ve began creating coloring posters, it’s been exciting to see the fun and creative ways people have used them. We’ve seen children coloring in classes and during a Christmas pageant, youth and adults coloring during fellowship hours, people on sessions and church boards coloring during meetings, creative uses on mission trips and more! There are many ways that coloring posters can create space for relationships to grow, conversations to be had and your community to experience fellowship.

We love sharing some of the ways people are using our resources, and we wanted to let you know about a church who used our coloring posters to develop relationships while on a mission trip. One of our customers, Hope Lutheran Church from Fresno (CA) bought our large 4′ x 3′ coloring posters in Spanish, and took them on a mission trip they went on. You can see from the photos below that the coloring posters were a quick and easy way to begin to develop relationships with the children they were working with.

Adam Knudson, Associate Pastor of Youth and Family Ministries, sent me the below note while they were on their trip:

We are having a great time here in Mexicali with our brothers and sisters. Sometimes there is a language barrier but with coloring these pictures the differences are minimized. Kids, adults, everyone knew exactly what to do and could come and go as they pleased. This was a great resource for our team.

We currently have two sets of our coloring posters with Spanish words, and they are both available as digital downloads. You can use those to print these posters out at whatever size you want

  • Advent Coloring Posters: While these were sold as our Advent Coloring Posters, they can certainly be used for any occasion. These are our largest posters, ready to be printed as 4′ x 3′ posters. The words in the middle of these posters are Amor, Paz, Gozo, Esperanza and Emmanuel.
  • Lenten Coloring Posters: Our newest set of coloring posters includes nine 2′ x 3′ posters. The words/phrases on these posters are Reciba a otros, Dé, Sirva, Escuche, Ame, Vigile, Arriesgue, Tome y Coma, Abandanado, Vaya y Diga.

I know there are lots of churches that go on mission trips over spring break and in the summer, and I just wanted to encourage you to think about how something as simple as a large piece of paper and some crayons and markers could help provide a simple but meaningful activity to do with kids you are serving. Of course, these would work anywhere – and not just for mission trips to Mexico – so if there is a different language you need the posters in, please contact us and we’ll setup a custom order for you.

How have other people been using their coloring posters in creative ways?

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