These activities are not just for primary school children – though there’s a good reason why we did them at school. The physical act of copying and/or colouring helps to reinforce and fix key information in your memory.

Copying  from a photograph or a diagram in a text book also helps you to focus on structure and detail, and prompts you to ask ‘What is this I am looking at? Why does it look like this? How else might it look? How does it relate and compare to what else I know?

Colouring may seem less conceptually demanding but is equally useful.

There are some specialist colouring books such as The Anatomy Colouring Book designed for medical and nursing students.  See a review of this and other medical and physiological colouring books https://www.nursetheory.com/anatomy-physiology-coloring-books/

If nothing similar is available in your own subject, then you can make your own. Copy relevant diagrams or maps from your textbooks, or search online for ‘line drawing’ + your topic – a  cheaper and more relevant alternative to expensive ‘mindfulness’ adult colouring books.

(First posted as part of the University of Brighton Big Draw October 2019)