What to do with the finished pages

Sign and date the pages people are proud of, hang some on a display wall, send one home with a visiting family, and keep the rest in a keepsake folder. Ask first, every time, because a finished page belongs to whoever colored it.

Every one of these is their choice. Here's how each one works, and the one place pages shouldn't go.

Ask first

When someone puts down a pencil, ask what they'd like to do with the page. "Would you like to keep this one, hang it up, or give it to someone?"

Most people will have an answer. Some will say to toss it, and that's their call, too. What matters is that nobody's page goes on a wall, or into a bin, without being asked.

Sign and date the ones they're proud of

Keep a pen at the coloring table, separate from the pencils. When a page is done and someone's pleased with it, ask if they'd like to sign it and add the date.

A signature changes what the page is. It stops being an activity sheet and becomes something a person made. The date matters later, when a family member finds the page in a drawer and wants to know when it was colored.

If someone would rather not write, offer to write their name and the date for them. Then hand it back so they can check it.

A display wall

Pick one wall where people pass every day: outside the dining room, by the elevator, at the door of the activity room. Hang the pages low enough to see from a chair.

Here's an idea that works well: hang one drawing, colored by many people. Put every finished copy of Butterfly in a frame side by side. No two will match. Nobody's page is the best one, and Regular and Bold hang together, looking like the same picture.

Add a small card with the drawing's title and its Story Starter: "Walls full of pictures, or just a few: which did you like?" People stop to read it, and some will answer it out loud right there in the hall. That's a conversation the wall started.

A few things keep a wall easy to run:

• Use removable tape or a corkboard, not pins in the paint.
• Show first names only, and only with a yes.
• Change the wall once a month, when new pages arrive.
• When pages come down, give them back to the people who colored them.

A page that goes home

The family visit is one of the best times to color. Print the same drawing twice: Regular for the visitor, Bold for the person they came to see. When the visit ends, one page can go home with the family. It's a better keepsake than a photo, because both of them made it.

Some pages are made to be given. Chick on a gift box is a chick sitting on a wrapped present. Its Story Starter asks, "Are you a neat gift wrapper, or more of a tape-and-hope one?" A finished copy, signed and dated, makes a card for a grandchild.

Pages can travel by mail, too. Butterfly and cosmos comes with the Story Starter "Are you a letter writer, or more of a phone-call person?" Fold the finished page in half, add a line inside, and send it. Staff or a volunteer can help address the envelope.

Back on the table

Finished pages can start the next activity. Before you hand out a new drawing, put last week's pages in the middle of the table. People like to see what everyone else did with the same picture. "Who made the sky purple?" is an easy way to start talking before anyone picks up a pencil.

A favorite page can also go in the printed newsletter that goes to families, with a yes from the person who colored it.

A keepsake folder

Give each person who colors often a plain folder. Keep it in their room or on a shelf in the activity room, labeled with their name.

Every signed page goes in, in date order. Over a few months, the folder becomes a record of what they chose: the subjects, the colors, the ones they came back to. Families like to page through it on a visit. You'll find it useful too, because it shows which pages get finished and which don't.

When someone moves, the folder goes with them.

Keep pages with your location, and off the internet

The license keeps pages with your location: the people you serve, their families, and visitors. A finished page going home with a visiting daughter fits. A stack of blank copies sent to another location doesn't.

The license covers print. Calendars, newsletters, bulletin boards, and handouts are all fine. It doesn't cover posting pages publicly online, including social media. That includes a photo of a finished page on your website or your social media feed. The one place a page shouldn't go is online.

When pages pile up

Not every page needs a home. When the wall comes down or a folder gets full, ask before anything is thrown out. Never clear pages away in front of the people who made them. Recycle the rest quietly.

Start with six

Want pages worth signing? The First Pack is six drawings with a Story Starter on each, free, with your organization's name on the cover. For families who want to color on a visit, there's a page just for them: coloring together on a visit.