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This wind turbine coloring page shows three tall white towers standing on rolling green hills. Each one has three long blades caught in the middle of a spin. Down in the valley a red barn, a silo and a few sheep give you a sense of how huge the towers are. Birds and curly wind lines cross the sky.
Long, simple shapes make this a calm page. Ages 5 to 11 can finish it in about half an hour, and little kids can do well with just the hills and the barn.
Show the wind you can't see
Wind is a hard thing to draw, since nobody can see it. That is what the curly lines are for. Color them pale blue or lavender, and they will sweep across the page and lead your eye to the blades. Your child might add more of them with a pencil.
Have them look for other signs of a breeze, too. A flag on the barn is flying out, and the tall grass all leans the same way. Wind leaves clues everywhere. Finding them makes this more than just a coloring job.
Coloring a wind turbine coloring page without losing the white
The towers are white in real life, and white on white paper can vanish. Here are some ways around that problem.
- Fill the sky behind the towers with a strong blue, so the white shapes jump forward.
- Add a soft gray stripe down one side of each tower, like a shadow.
- Put a thin line of pale blue along the edge of each blade.
- Paint the blade tips red, the way many real turbines have marks to help pilots.
Use two or three greens on the hills, with the far ones the palest. The barn can be classic red with white trim. Let the sheep stay white or give them pale gray faces.
What is inside the tower
Wind pushes on the blades and they start to turn. That spinning turns a shaft inside the box at the top, and a generator there makes electricity. It travels down the tower and out through wires. Most big turbines have three blades, and they turn to face the wind. The Department of Energy guide to wind turbines has a good diagram you can explore with your class.
Turbines work a bit like a fan running backward. A fan uses electricity to make wind. A turbine uses wind to make electricity. Kids usually grasp that right away, and it gives you a great way to start a talk about energy.
Build a paper pinwheel
Cut a square of paper, then snip in from each corner toward the middle. Bend every other point into the center and pin it to a pencil eraser. Blow on it and watch it go. Now go outside and test it where the wind is strong. On a wind turbine coloring page the blades stand still, but this one will really spin.
Try a contest with three pinwheels of different sizes. Which turns the fastest? Which starts up in the lightest wind? Write the results on the back of the sheet. Older kids can also keep a week long wind log, marking calm, breezy or strong each day.
A quick word game for class
Write WIND down the side of a sheet. Have each student add a word for each letter that links to weather or farming. Then let them read the list with their finished picture on the wall behind them. Short games like this give a page a second life after the crayons go away.
Farming is a good thing to talk about as well. Many farmers rent a bit of land for turbines, and crops or cows can stay right below them.
Pages to go with the breeze
Compare wind with sun on our solar panels page. The windy day drawing is a funny follow up, and all the planet themed sheets are in our Earth Day pages.
Questions
Why do most turbines have three blades?
Most large turbines use three blades because that design works well and runs smoothly at high wind speeds.
Are real turbines this big?
Many land turbines are taller than a 20 story building, so a barn beside one would look even smaller than it does here.
What age does this suit?
It works for ages 5 to 11. Younger kids can do the hills and the barn while older ones add fine shading.
