New colouring book honours "superhero" frontline workers

A Toronto company has released a colouring book that honours Canada's frontline COVID-19 workers while raising money for children in need. The "Super Essential Workers" colouring kit is a downloadable colouring book developed by Makers that connects children to frontline workers through art, and allows them to understand the sacrifices being made during the pandemic. "The goal was to spread joy and provide an additional activity for kids who are not going back to school this year," says Andrea Wong, a producer at Makers. The illustrations were drawn by over twenty artists, and many of the colourable portraits are of real Canadian doctors and nurses, who are portrayed in the book as superheroes. Apart from health staff, some colouring pages also honour frontline heroes whose stories are often overlooked, including garbage collectors, grocery store cashiers, and mail carriers.

Makers founder Sumit Ajwani says the "Super Essential Workers" colouring book has opened conversations between children and parents about what is going on and how we can all help. Ajwani notes that the book provides a great way to speak about the pandemic, while teaching children about the brave work of people whose jobs don't permit for social distancing. The colouring book is free to download online, and once downloaded the website will bring parents to a page where they can donate to Kids Help Phone. "Kids Help Phone is getting more calls than ever before because of the COVID pandemic," says Wong, "so it was important for Makers to help an organization supporting kids."

Source: CTV News Toronto