Fall Coloring Pages

Trees, leaves and forest friends

The autumn tree has eight big bunches of leaves and a rope swing, and it uses up every warm crayon in the box. The apple tree is packed with fruit, with a ladder against the trunk and a full basket on the grass.

Two forest animals are getting ready for winter. The squirrel sits on a log holding an acorn, and the hedgehog carries a red apple on its spiky back.

This hub also shares a few of our favorite harvest pages. The pumpkin patch and the scarecrow suit farm lovers, while the fall leaves page takes a close look at single leaves.

Fall coloring pages by age

Children of three and four will do well with the two trees. Each has one or two big shapes to fill, and there is no wrong color for a leaf. Let them scribble red and orange together. That is what real trees do.

Kids from five to eight tend to like the animals. The squirrel has a huge tail with room for long furry strokes, and the hedgehog gives them a zigzag edge to follow. These are good for building control without too much stress.

Older kids and adults can make any of these richer with shading. Try blending yellow into orange inside a leaf, or adding soft shadows beneath the apples. A calm half hour with colored pencils is a good way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Best colors for autumn art

You only need a few crayons to make a fall picture sing. Red, orange, gold and brown do most of the work, and a pale blue sky helps them stand out.

• Mix two or three warm colors on one tree so it does not look flat.
• Choose a dull green for the grass, since bright green feels more like spring.
• Add a darker brown over trunks and logs for a bark look.
• Keep a white spot on each apple and pumpkin to make it shine.

If your crayon box is short on orange, color yellow first and go over it lightly with red. It is a small trick, and it also teaches young kids how colors mix.

Why leaves turn red and gold

Green leaves get their color from chlorophyll, which helps a tree make food from sunlight. As days grow shorter, trees stop making it, and the green slowly fades away. Yellow and orange were in the leaf all along, so they finally show. Reds are made fresh in the fall. You can read more on Wikipedia.

Many animals are busy at this time of year too. Squirrels bury nuts for later. Hedgehogs eat as much as they can before their long winter sleep. Birds start to fly south. Talking about these things while you color is an easy way to fit in some science.

Nature walks and easy crafts

Take a page outside. Bring a clipboard, sit under a real tree and try to match its colors. Then pick up a few fallen leaves on the way home.

Back indoors, lay a leaf under thin paper and rub over it with the side of a crayon. The veins will show up on the paper. Cut out the leaf shapes and glue them around your colored tree to give it a frame. You can also press real leaves inside a heavy book and add them to the page once they are flat.

Apple printing is another hit. Cut an apple in half, dip it in paint and stamp it on paper. A paper plate wreath takes just a few minutes too, using leaves cut from your finished pages.

Ideas for teachers

Fall is a busy time in the classroom, and these pages fit many units. Use the two trees for a lesson about the seasons. Count apples for math, then graph which fruit the class likes most. The animal pages pair well with a short talk on hibernation or on how creatures get ready for the cold.

Early finishers can keep a folder of pages at their desks. Teachers may also like to use the pictures as story starters. What will the squirrel do with that acorn? Who left the ladder by the apple tree? Each child can write one or two lines under the drawing.

Please copy as many as you need for your class or library. Our free use license explains the simple rules.

A season for slowing down

The school year is in full swing by now, and evenings get dark early. A coloring page can be a calm way to end a long day. Put on some quiet music, make a mug of something warm and color together for a little while. It does not need to be neat. Most kids just like having you beside them.

Keep exploring

Autumn leads right into the big holidays. Our Halloween coloring pages have friendly ghosts and pumpkins, and our Thanksgiving coloring pages bring in turkeys and pies. For more wildlife, try our animal coloring pages.

Questions