Coloring Pages

How To Get the Most out of Your Coloring Pages

Coloring pages are a launchpad for creativity, connection, and learning. Whether you’re looking for fun DIY crafts, tips to level up your digital coloring, screen-free games, or educational tools, we’ve got you covered with ideas to get the most out of every page. Perfect for parents, teachers, or creative kids and adults, these suggestions will turn any coloring session into something even more imaginative (and a lot more useful).

Crafts

Here are five craft ideas using your finished coloring page with objects found around the house. Use these ideas for rainy days, classroom projects, or during the holidays. They’re also a great resource for crafting handmade gifts.

Make a 3D diorama.

Grab some art supplies and an old shoebox. Pick a theme and use crayons, glitter, or paint to decorate your box and bring your environment to life. Then, add your finished, cut-out images from your coloring sheet to the scene. Now you have a unique diorama for display.

Turn your page into a DIY framed photo.

Color your image, then add pom poms to the edges to frame the photo. It’s the perfect handmade gift to give for birthdays and holidays.

Make your own jigsaw puzzle.

After coloring, glue the page to cardstock to give the paper some weight. (Or print on heavier paper before coloring.) Cut your paper into puzzle shapes. Make it easier or harder depending on the age of the child.

Make a wall collage.

Use several colored pages to create a large collage that you can display in your classroom or art room. Follow a theme, like animals. Or go for a more conceptual take, like collaging pages colored with the same color.

Decorate a photo album or scrapbook.

Add your colored in images to photo albums to give your photos some added personality. Try layering your art with stickers and washi tape, or use glitter dots over top to add dimension.

Procreate Tips and Tricks

These three tips will help you work more efficiently and get cleaner images. Even with plenty more tips to explore, these are simple enough to implement into your workflow now.

Color faster with ColorDrop.

If you want to fill in a large area with solid color, you don’t need to color over it manually. Use Procreate’s ColorDrop feature. Drag your Active Color to the space you want to fill and your space is colored instantly.

Keep your favorite brushes pinned for quick access.

Have your favorite brushes at the ready by pinning them. This saves you from scrolling through a sea of brushes. Look under Recent brushes in your Brush Library. Swipe left on the brush you want to save then tap Pin.

Use Alpha Lock to stay inside the lines on individual layers.

Alpha Lock lets you color only on the objects in that single layer. This is great for keeping your artwork clean. To turn it on, tap the layer then tap Alpha Lock.

Games

Turning your coloring pages into games might not be the first thing you think of, but it’s a clever way to turn quiet time into game time. Whether you’re playing solo or with friends, these ideas bring extra life to your coloring pages. (How’s that for a 1UP!)

Play a game of coloring scavenger hunt.

Color objects in your page the same color as the letter they start with. For instance, an octopus can be colored orange. A puppy can be colored pink. Challenge yourself by thinking of specific colors, like chartreuse, periwinkle, violet, maroon, and so on.

Convert your page to color by number.

Assign numbers to each part of the coloring page. Create a key with a color palette to follow. Get creative with palette ideas. Try different ideas like limiting yourself to just three colors or a monochromatic palette.

Play “I spy” using your coloring page.

Using your finished coloring page, choose an object and say, “I spy with my little eye, something [color or shape].” Let others guess what it is. Take turns and see who can find the most objects.

Play a cooperative coloring game.

Take turns with a friend coloring in one element at a time. Play with no limits on colors or areas to fill in. Or play with parameters, like “use a color that’s warmer than the last color used.” This cooperative game is best for smaller groups to keep the wait time between turns low.

Educational Resources

Make learning more engaging with visual aids kids can create. Go beyond art, and use coloring pages to reinforce lessons across subjects like math, science, reading, and more.

Practice math skills.

Use our pizza coloring pages to teach kids about fractions, or our ice cream coloring pages for visual references on lessons about shape and symmetry.

Explore scientific concepts.

Dive into ocean life with our sea creature coloring pages or learn about weather patterns using our rainy day designs. These pages offer an interactive way to introduce subjects like marine biology and meteorology.

Practice separating fact and fiction.

Offer a mix of real and imaginary coloring page themes, like mermaids and sea creatures. Or dragons and dinosaurs. Prompt kids to choose the coloring page with the real subject, or the one with the fictional subject, before coloring.

Practice mindfulness and social emotional learning.

Use calming, animal-themed pages to discuss emotions and social interactions. Talk about how different animals express themselves and how students can relate those expressions to their own feelings or friendships.