Being a parent often feels like juggling flaming swords while riding a unicycle—blindfolded. Between snack negotiations, impromptu costume changes, and an endless loop of “why?” questions, it’s easy to feel like you’re one juice box away from losing it. You need to find a great parenting hack to survive.
Enter AI: the underappreciated superhero of modern parenting. And one of its niftiest tricks? Turning everyday photos into custom colouring pages. Yes, you read that right. AI can transform those spaghetti-smeared smiles and muddy backyard adventures into adorable black-and-white outlines that your kiddo can colour with gusto.
How Does It Work?
It’s delightfully simple. Upload a photo, maybe that one of your toddler riding the dog like a noble steed or Grandma trying to survive the trampoline, and AI takes over. It analyses the image, identifies key outlines, and produces a simplified line drawing. The result is a printable colouring page with sentimental value and a guaranteed “wow” reaction from your little Picassos.
Imagine your child colouring their own face, or their beloved stuffed bear perched on the couch. It’s creative, personal, and so much more fun than another unicorn from the dollar store colouring book.
Here, we took a photo of Dublin City and asked an AI to generate an image of it in a colour book style. We used Microsoft Copilot, but you can use any AI, including ChatGPT.
The results were nothing short of whimsical, and something the children will definitely love to spend some time colouring in and decorating. The amazing thing about this hack is that you can make it any image you would like! From family photos to landscapes or your child’s toys, they can pick and choose their own adventure.
Why This Is a Game-Changer Parenting Hack
It is screen-free entertainment, so you don’t have to resort to YouTube to buy five minutes of peace. Just print a few AI-generated colouring pages and let the crayons do the babysitting. It also creates personalized keepsakes. Each masterpiece becomes a memory. Slap a date on it and you’ve got a mini time capsule of their artistic evolution. The children are learning through play, as kids naturally pay more attention to images they recognize. Colouring is great for children, as it boosts focus and helps develop fine motor skills, all while they gleefully colour their own dog’s ear green.
Maximize the Magic of AI
Our tips for this to get the best result can help to make this the best parenting hack you have ever heard of. Make sure you try uploading action shots or clear portraits for best results. Turn it into a challenge for your kids by suggesting crazy ideas, like “Can you colour Daddy’s beard purple?” Finally, you can use the pages for birthday party crafts, guests can colour themselves!
You can also create a beautiful colouring book, Upload a handful of favourite photos, transform them with AI, print them out, staple them together, and voilà, your child’s very own personalized colouring book. Add their name in sparkly letters and you’ve just won Parenting Bingo.
AI: An Amazing Parenting Hack
AI isn’t here to replace your parenting instincts—it’s just giving you cooler tools. Whether you need a rainy-day activity, a personalized gift, or something to fill those “I’m bored!” gaps, AI-generated colouring pages turn your photo gallery into an artistic playground. Bonus: It might even buy you five peaceful minutes to drink a coffee while it’s still hot. Fancy that.
So go ahead, embrace the tech, and let the colouring chaos begin.
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