Kids coloring pages

Great kids coloring pages!

Here's a selection of fun kids coloring pages which will keep your kids busy and happy.

Some of these sites offer only printable coloring pages, others offer both online coloring pages for kids and printable pages, too.

The first thing to do is browse around the sites finding suitable activities your kids will be able to cope with.

The online tools featured on these sites are great for little kids, and when it comes to the printable coloring pages, it's a good idea to print stuff out first and take a look at what has to be done.

You may want to print out several pages about a particular theme - sometimes kids take a while to get "into" what they're doing, and will whizz through the first coloring in page in ten seconds... ensure you have a few back-up printables to hand!

Kids coloring pages - top sites

Crayola
Crayola's site has a great selection of coloring in topics; all the pages I found could be printed off, and a selection of those could also be colored in online.

I recommend registering with Crayola to access all their printables - it's free to join, and I've been a member for a while now and they send me the occasional email, so it's well worth it.

The coloring and crafts section includes a wealth of topics, and adds to the coloring fun by getting your kids to

• color by number
• complete the picture
• color and cut out

- there is also a "My first coloring pages" section, which is a good idea. Why not create a few certificates while you're there to award your child when they've created something really special!

Don't forget Crayola's new Digi Color^TM tool for drawing - it imitates painting, crayoning, stamping and so on. It's easy to use - your child simply chooses a drawing tool and a color and gets started. When you're done - just print!

Jan Brett
Here's a lovely site with wonderfully original kids coloring pages - animals, calendars, alphabet, Noah's ark, placemats... you'll find them all in her coloring pages section.

This is for children who have mastered coloring in and are happy spending a little time getting things exactly right - this way, they can produce something really special. Very young kids would find some of these activities too frustrating.

Fisher Price
Fisher Price have a nice collection of printables, suitable for little kids. There's a simple maze, a color by number and connect the dots here - you could print out a selection for a good afternoon's activity with your little one.

Little Dittle
Little Dittle's simple online kids coloring pages are a delight. So easy to use! Choose between Mr Bear, Mr Dog, a house or Little Dittle himself. Kids click on a color, then click the part of the picture they want to fill in with that color.

CBeebies Printables
Enjoy the Print and Colour section for printable fun from the BBC, where you'll find a huge selection of favorite kids characters to choose from:

• Bob the builder
• Little Robots
• Pingu
• 64 Zoo Lane
• Lunar Jim
• Clifford

- and many others.

The printables section also includes some Doodly Fun, where kids can add their own dots, lines or shapes to the printed doodle and make their own picture. There's also a simple How to Draw section.

Another of the biggie TV sites with a good kids coloring pages section is...

PBS
There are print and color pages or if you prefer, the online coloring activities - simply scroll left or right along the character strip to choose who or what you'd like to color online - Sesame Street, Barney, Zoboomafoo, Berenstain Bears, Dragon Tales - just for starters!