Abstract:
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.

Description:
[0001]    The present invention is directed to a coloring sheet, and, more particularly, to a coloring sheet with raised lines to guide a user&#39;s tracing and/or coloring. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    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&#39;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&#39;s writing and drawing skills. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    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. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]      FIG. 1  is a top view of a coloring sheet; 
           [0005]      FIG. 2  is a side cross section taken along line  2 - 2  of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0006]      FIG. 3  is a top view of another coloring sheet; 
           [0007]      FIG. 4  is a top view of the sheet of  FIG. 3 , with the sheet partially colored; and 
           [0008]      FIG. 5  illustrates the nine pre-writing shapes. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0009]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , in one embodiment the coloring sheet  10  of the present invention include a coloring surface or sheet of paper  12  with one or more (three, in the illustrated embodiment) designs  14  formed on the sheet of paper  12 . Each design  14  can take any of a variety of recognizable objects or shapes, such as animals, flowers, objects, designs, people, etc. Although each design  14  can take the form of alphanumeric characters, in one embodiment the designs  14  are not alphanumeric characters. 
         [0010]    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. 
         [0011]    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  FIG. 1  represents an raised line). As shown in  FIG. 2 , each raised line  16  may permanently raised, and may be an embossed line defined by a deformation of the sheet  12 . However, besides embossing each raised line  16  can be formed by other structure, such as by an area of increased thickness of the sheet  12 , an area of built-up ink or other materials (i.e. by thermography), or the like. Each pair of raised lines  16  may be curved or straight as desired to provide the desired design  14 . As can be seen, various pairs of intersecting abutting raised lines  16  forming non-parallel angles may be utilized to form a single design  14  or part of a design  14 . 
         [0012]    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&#39;s skill and success with visual motor control. 
         [0013]    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&#39;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. 
         [0014]    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 . 
         [0015]    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  FIG. 1 , a green writing instrument can be used in the raised lines  16  defining the stem and leaves of the flower; a yellow writing instrument can be used in the raised lines  16  defining the leaves; and a black writing instrument can be used in the raised lines  16  defining the center of the flower. 
         [0016]    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  FIG. 1 , green may be used to color the leaf areas to provide a color matching the border, and red may be used to color the petals to provide a color that contrasts with the border. The inner raised line  16  defining the field area  20  provides tactile feed back when coloring the field area  20  so that the user can determine when their writing instrument  20  is approaching the outer edge of the field area  20 , which helps to build confidence (with coloring inside the boundaries) and encourages further development. Thus each pair of raised lines  16  can serve the dual purpose of allowing “boundary” lines to be drawn in a guided manner, while also serving as a guide for field coloring of the generally closed areas  20 . 
         [0017]    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. 
         [0018]    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. 
         [0019]    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 . 
         [0020]    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. 
         [0021]    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  FIG. 1 .) The use of two opposed hand cues  22  ensures that a hand cue  22  is sufficiently presented and available for both left-handed and right-handed users. As best shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , both hand cues  22  may be located in the upper half of the drawing sheet  12  since stabilization in the upper half of the sheet  12  is most effective and allows full access to the drawing sheet. Moreover, the hand cue  22  on the left side of the sheet  12  (utilized by right-handed users) is positioned below the hand cue  22  on the right side of the sheet  12  (utilized by left-handed users). Due to the layout of most drawing sheets, as well as orientation of writing desks, etc. it is desired to place the hand cue  22  for left-handed users higher on the sheet  12  than the other hand cue  22 . In particular, due the differing ways in which a left-handed user typically positions and stabilizes paper compared to a right-handed user, the right cue  22  is optimally positioned higher on the sheet  10 . 
         [0022]    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  FIG. 5 , consist of a vertical line, a horizontal line, a circle, a cross (also known more specifically as a horizontal and vertical cross), a right oblique, a square, a left oblique, an “X” (also known more specifically as an oblique cross), and a triangle. These pre-writing shapes  26  can be arranged to create all of the capital letters of the English alphabet (or the Latin alphabet) and therefore are important building blocks for a user to learn and build upon. The designs  14  of each sheet  10  may therefore incorporate the pre-writing shapes  26 , or similar variants thereof, to encourage familiarity with the shapes  26  and practice drawing them. The use of the pre-writing shapes  26  develops visual motor integration which is important in the development of writing, coloring and drawing skills. 
         [0023]    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&#39;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&#39;s success with coloring within the lines. 
         [0024]    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&#39;s parents, teachers, etc.) to use the sheet  10  in the manner described herein. 
         [0025]    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.