Prepping With Kids: Preparedness Coloring Books!

Color Me Prepared!

Coloring books are all the rage and zen these days. Which is great because there’s nothing that makes my heart soar and calms my nerves like coloring. I tend to buy coloring books for myself as much as my kids, and we have a substantial library of coloring book options and tools. The beautiful thing about preparedness coloring books is that every age benefits from them, and it’s a fantastic way to spend quality time together.

Every teacher knows that coloring is a perfect way to teach children, so why not use that to your preparedness advantage. Preparedness groups and organizations are jumping on the coloring bandwagon as well!

There are numerous coloring books and workbooks out there, many are listed on our On the Natural Disasters Educational Resources page. You’ll also find links to games, activities, coloring pages, and on-line games and teaching tools that can be used.

But today I thought I’d review a few of those with you, along with the option of my own children. Some of these links have several coloring books based on ages or specific topics, so be sure to click over and check them all out.

FEMA’s coloring book and workbook

The Disaster Preparedness Coloring Book is almost like creating your own disaster storybook. It highlights the disasters of fire, hurricane, flood, and thunderstorm and has a page dedicated to how to prepare for each one along with what to do during. The pictures are more a little on the bland side (it was written in 1993) but there are good depictions of what to do in each disaster.

Ready.gov activity book

In the Ready Kids Activity Book, the lion family prepares together! This is a great comic style coloring book with some good information and detailed graphics. It is geared towards general preparedness, addressing kitschy plans without being specific towards a certain disaster. You’ll find a crossword and word search to keep the attention of older kids.

The Disaster Crew

In the workbook, Ready, Set, Prepare the disaster crew is cool! Ok, the graphics feel a bit “too cool” like they were trying too hard to be hip. But that’s probably how most parents seem to our teens anyhow. This one does a good job covering general preparedness in good depth, along with addressing some specific disasters. A nice combination of information, coloring pages, and activities.

Disaster Crew Preparedness Coloring Book | PreparednessMama

The CDC

The Ready Wrigley series sponsored by the CDC has topics like “lead in the water” and “the flu”, but this pup has some great information and graphics for teaching kids about earthquakes, extreme heat, and winter weather. There are 8 books in all. The graphics remind me of the coloring books I grew up with, oh nostalgia! This would be a great one for elementary school kids.

Ready Wrigley Preparedness Coloring Book | PreparednessMama

The National Weather Center

Get weather related booklets, coloring pages, and games from NOAA. Billie and Marie’s Graphics leave a bit to be desired but they have enough information to be a magic school bus book. Owlie is a bit more like “The disaster crew” listed above. But loaded with information and action scenes. NOAA also has worksheets, activities, and weather games. Their preparedness coloring book title are listed below.

Billy and Maria Coloring Books

Billy and Maria Visit the National Weather Service
Billy, Maria, and the Thunderstorm
Billy and Maria Learn About Tornado Safety, part 1, 2, 3
Billy and Maria Learn About Winter Weather, part 1, 2, 3

Owlie Skywarn™ Coloring Books

Owlie Skywarn: Watch Out…Storms Ahead
Owlie Skywarn: Tornadoes
Owlie Skywarn: Hurricane
Owlie Skywarn: Floods
Owlie Skywarn: Lightning
Owlie Skywarn: Winter Storms

Sesame Street

This is a fire safety coloring book geared towards preschooler and young elementary school kids. It’s true to the familiar characters and the quality is exactly what you would expect for this mainstay of children’s education.

If coloring is a favorite family pastime, then print a few off to get a preparedness discussion going over your crayons. Be sure to come back and tell us which ones your family liked.

If coloring is a favorite family pastime, then print a few of these free preparedness coloring books. Get the discussion going over your crayons. | PreparednessMama

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Tyra

Tyra Baird from Oregon simply lives a lifestyle of preparedness and has a passion for sharing it. She received a Bachelors from BYU-Idaho in Child and family studies, and Home and family living. As a stay at home mom of 6 children under the age of 10, she considers herself an expert in man-made disasters and daily coping. Emergency preparedness and self reliance has been a way of life since she was a child (her mom was in the Teton Dam flood as a teen and her dad’s just paranoid). Tyra and her husband have embraced preparedness wholeheartedly. She’s been in a tornado, tropical storm, flooding, snowed in twice, severe storms, and slept through a few minor earthquakes. All of them were pretty mild. Tyra is a self proclaimed nerd who simply enjoys reading, researching, writing, teaching, and public speaking.

Comments

ColorGaia says

May 14, 2017 at 1:12 pm

What great resources!

One of the things I love about seeing the coloring movement explode in the past couple of years is the growing number of parents who are now coloring with their kids. It’s a great way for children and adults to bond over a shared experience, and as you mentioned, it can be used as a way to teach and open your children’s eyes to new ideas.