Free colouring pages for children

How it works

1. Choose a picture. Each one is marked easy, medium or more detail.
2. Print it, with the "Print the blank page" button. It fits A4 paper upright and has a line for the child's name.
3. Or colour it on the screen. Tap a colour, tap a part of the picture. This is handy in a waiting room or on a journey, and it wastes no paper.
4. Talk while you colour. Every page has colour ideas, a few true facts to read aloud and two questions to ask.

Pictures by set

• Animals 10 pages
• Fruits and vegetables 7 pages
• Nature 6 pages
• Things 10 pages
• Festivals and patterns 5 pages

Why colouring is worth the time

Colouring looks like play, and it is. It is also quiet practice for the small muscles of the hand that a child will soon need for writing. Holding a crayon, pressing hard or softly, stopping at a line, choosing which colour goes where: each is a skill. A page finished from edge to edge teaches a child to stay with one task, and a page proudly shown to a grandparent teaches something about pride in work. None of this needs to be said to the child. Put the page and the crayons on the table and sit nearby.

There is more in the guides for parents: what to expect at each age, crayons, pencils or paints, colour names in Hindi and English with simple colour mixing, and things to make from a finished page.

Drawn by us

These pictures are not collected from around the internet. Each one was drawn for this site from simple shapes, with thick, even lines and large spaces, so that it prints sharply on any printer and suits small hands. Teachers and parents may print as many copies as they need.

Questions