My Covid Colouring Book
By Dr. Pippa Moss
At the start of the COVID crisis, we wanted to help children understand the importance of social distancing and hand-washing in a way that was not frightening for them and, hopefully, was fun. I work with children with learning problems (and some behavioural challenges) and the idea of a story seemed a good one, as I like to use stories in therapy and for teaching social skills.
Then, I wondered about a colouring book to make it more engaging. That way a child could also colour the figures to look like their own family, which might help them to make it their own story and the ideas of social distancing and hand-washing more easy for them to think of as something they would want to do rather than resist.
The problem is that, although I knew what I wanted to see on paper quite clearly in my mind, I cannot draw. So I asked my nephew in England, who is a teacher and a wonderful cartoonist, if he would help and he took my ideas and made them so much better. Then we realised that we needed a French version to be fully inclusive and the daughter of a friend took on that part, and did a lovely job.
The end result is “My Covid Colouring Book” [PDF] — a truly international and cross-generational collaboration. I hope that it brings some fun to the stay-at-home time. Maybe even parents could colour one, so younger children have a book for themselves, too!
Find Dr. Moss’s colouring book and other resources for kids on the Royal College website.
Philippa Moss, MBBS, FRCPC, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist in rural Nova Scotia. In addition to serving as a consultant to Colchester East Hants, Cumberland, Pictou and Cape Breton health districts, she is also an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University.
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