May 11, 2024

Over 100 museums have turned their collections into coloring books — and they’re free to use

In the hushed halls of libraries and museums, history and understanding live in thoroughly curated collections. But museums are striving to bring their collections to individuals in new and ingenious ways. In some cases, you do not need to even leave your home to enjoy some of these collections. Welcome to the fascinating world of #ColorOurCollections, where the timeless treasures of these cultural institutions come alive in vibrant colors.

Coloring books are no longer simply for kids

#ColorOurCollections is an initiative that encourages museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions to share coloring sheets and pages from their collections. These coloring pages are frequently based upon artwork, illustrations, or historic documents that are in the public domain or have open licenses, allowing individuals to easily download and color them.

In the past few years, coloring books have with dignity shed their special association with youth leisure activities. Most coloring books are sold to adults. Walk into any bookshop and youre bound to find a minimum of a number of coloring books for adults. Frequently, these feature repetitive patterns with flowers and mandalas that assist you unwind. However what if you had something much better to color and unwind with?

In the meantime, weve also put together a list that can get you started if youre into coloring. Hope you enjoy!

There are over 100 museums that have actually put parts of their collections up for coloring. Often, they even put it into a downloadable form, like this collection from Princeton. In addition to the drawings themselves, a lot of museums likewise put a description of the art work, so you can immerse yourself in the backstory.

How do you find the museum illustrations to color? Well as far as we can inform, theres no central list with all the readily available collections, so youre most likely best off just browsing for the collection hashtag and checking out the outcomes or adding particular descriptors. For example, you can look for ColorOurCollections botanicals or ColorOurCollections animals– whatever you choose.

Some of our favorite ColorOurCollections

In the hushed halls of museums and libraries, history and knowledge live in thoroughly curated collections. Museums are working hard to bring their collections to individuals in new and ingenious ways. There are over 100 museums that have actually put parts of their collections up for coloring. Well as far as we can inform, theres no centralized list with all the readily available collections, so youre probably best off just browsing for the collection hashtag and searching through the results or adding specific descriptors.