Turn a House Photo Into a Coloring Page

Moving with kids is easier with something to hold

Children rarely have words for leaving a house, but they will happily spend twenty minutes coloring it. Printing a coloring page of the old house — and one of the new one — gives a four-year-old a concrete way to say goodbye and hello. Families tape both inside the moving boxes. It's a small thing that does real work on a hard week.

Other ways people use it

• Housewarming gifts — line art of the new house, printed on cardstock and framed.
• Realtor closing gifts — a personalized page for the buyers' children costs almost nothing and gets remembered.
• Grandparents' house — the porch, the barn, the lake cabin everyone grew up visiting.
• Holiday cards — the house with its Christmas lights up, colored in by the kids.
• Memorial keepsakes — a family home being sold after a parent passes.

Getting a good house photo

Stand back far enough to fit the whole front of the house, shoot straight on rather than at a steep angle, and go out on an overcast day or in the morning when the front isn't in deep shadow. Trim what you don't want in the drawing by cropping — parked cars, trash bins and power lines all become lines on the page otherwise. Brick, siding and shingle textures come out as satisfying repeating detail for older children and adults.

Pair it with a page of the family pet on the porch — see the pet photo guide — or read the step-by-step photo guide first.