Paint by numbers is a system where a picture is divided into shapes, each marked with a number that corresponds to a particular color. You paint in each shape and ultimately the picture emerges as a finished painting. The paint by numbers approach is often ridiculed as being simplistic, uncreative, and formulaic. I believe it's helpful in getting across the concept that a painting is built up through multiple shapes of color. These shapes often don't make sense individually, nor look like anything "real", but put together as a group they create the image. The next step in developing as a painter is to learn to see such color shapes for yourself, without the aid of a printed diagram. Completing a paint by numbers project helps you learn to analyze a subject and observe areas of color. It helps you move away from focusing on what the finished subject will look like to looking at small areas and what color these should be painted. "Painting by numbers' may not be as egregious a pursuit as one might imagine. Leonardo himself invented a form of it, assigning assistants to paint areas on a work that he had already sketched out and numbered." A Painting by Numbers kit will include a brush, little pots of paint in however many colors you'll need, and a printed outline of the picture. It may not look like much paint, but it should be sufficient paint for completing the picture. It's tempting to paint so that you finish a section of the picture at a time, but that will necessitate a lot of brush washing and waste paint. Rather paint one color at a time, from the largest areas of this color to the smallest. Working from the top of the painting down helps prevent accidentally disturbing wet paint. By starting with the larger ones you'll be more practiced using the brush and paint by the time you get to the smallest areas, which can be quite fiddly to paint. Painting by Numbers is an excellent exercise in brush control. You know exactly where the paint should go and so can focus entirely on getting it down there, and only there. Having the brush control to paint accurately up to an edge or specific point is a crucial skill that every aspiring artist needs to develop. You'll use it, for example, when painting a background behind an object, adding color in an eye, or darkening a shadow of a vase, and wherever you want a hard edge on an object.

Maintaining mental health becomes essential when it comes to healthy work-life balance. Innovative research in 2005 proved a decline in anxiety levels when people colored mandalas. The benefits of Paint by Numbers for adults are: 1) Reduce Anxiety and Stress Level: Paintings make adults feel happier, calmer and more relaxed. It is an amazingly easy way to relieve stress and get pent-up emotions out. Making their worries fade away temporarily. Even those who cannot paint can paint their feelings through this approach; 2) Increased Attention Span: Painting by Numbers enhances focus and concertation; 3) Experiencing success: In painting by numbers approach, completion of a picture can provide a great sense of achievement. Thus, improving self-confidence and inspire creation;4) Similar to Meditation: Painting mandalas and different patterns helps adults keep focused on the present moment, similar to that of meditation; 5) Enhance Cognitive Memory Function: Coloring helps in problem solving and organizational skills; 6) Improves Tolerance and Patience: Step by step painting process helps to cultivate one's patience and the emphasis on small details; 7) Physical and Mental Training: Painting improve cognitive abilities and motor coordination. This reduces the need of medication for depression and other stress-related disorders; 8) Good Time Pass: For those who just need a hobby to help them reduce stress, have a good time pass and perfect way to chill out, these kits could be the best ticket. What benefits makes Paint by Numbers for kids is that it will enhance their development. One main reason is that drawing and coloring are activities that develop a child's motor skills. The game develops their coordination skills since it teaches them to coordinate certain colors with numbers. They will also learn how to properly apply the right colors to the image. Overall, it's a good educational tool that can further help in enhancing kids' development. Plus, it's also fun to play, so they won't get bored learning and developing.