Apple Coloring Page

This apple coloring page puts one huge, smiling apple in the middle of an orchard. Its stem leans to one side, a single veined leaf sits on top, and a tiny bird has landed right on the tip of that leaf. Behind it stand two round apple trees, with a wooden ladder resting against the one on the right. A crate of apples waits at the bottom left, and a small apple with a worm popping out of it grins at the bottom right.

Kids aged 3 to 8 will do well with this one. The shapes are big and the lines are thick, so a little hand does not have to be exact. Plan on 15 to 25 minutes. The ladder rungs and the crate slats are the only slow parts.

Colors for the orchard

Red is the easy choice, but real apples are often two colors at once. Try yellow on the left side, then add red over it on the right. Crayons blend this way very well. Press lightly where the two colors meet.

Make the near trees two different greens. A lighter one on the left and a darker one on the right gives the picture some depth. The small trees peeking over the top of the apple can be paler still, since faraway things look faded.

• Stem, ladder and tree trunks: brown, in two or three shades
• Crate slats: tan, with darker brown posts at the corners
• Worm: bright green, or pink if your child likes silly colors
• Sky: light blue, kept soft so the apple stays the star

Tips for the tricky bits

The face comes first. Leave the shine in each eye white, then color the cheeks pink before you touch the red. Red crayon drifts, and it is hard to get it off a white cheek.

The ladder is thin, so a sharp colored pencil beats a marker here. Lay the page sideways if the angle feels awkward. For the crate, color the dark gaps between the slats last. Your child can skip them and the crate will still look finished.

Using markers? Slip a spare sheet under the page, because red marker soaks through plain printer paper fast.

A few apple facts

Apples are part of the rose family, the same big plant family as pears. Their wild ancestor still grows in Central Asia, the region where apples are thought to have started. There are more than 7,500 named kinds today.

Here is a good one for curious kids. Plant a seed from your favorite apple and the new tree will probably not grow that same apple. Growers keep a kind going by joining a cut branch onto a young rootstock, a method called grafting. The Wikipedia article on apples goes further.

An apple activity for after coloring

Count everything first. How many apples can your child find on the page, big and small? Then set out two or three real apples and cut each one across the middle instead of top to bottom. A little star made of seed pockets shows up in the center. Kids love this trick, and it takes about ten seconds.

Teachers can turn the sheet into a short writing prompt. Who is the worm, and where is it going? Ask for two sentences and a name. This works well in the first weeks of school, when you want an easy page that gets the whole room writing.

Printing this apple coloring page

The free PDF fits US Letter paper, and any home printer will handle it. Heavier paper is worth grabbing if you plan to use paint, because thin sheets ripple when wet. On a tablet, the apple coloring page opens with the Color online button, and each area fills with one tap. That is handy in a waiting room. No crayons to drop, no mess to clean up, and your child still gets to choose every color from the stem to the small worm.

More pages to print

Our fruit coloring pages have plenty more smiling faces to choose from. If your child likes this orchard, the apple picking coloring page shows the harvest in action. For a softer shape, try the pear coloring page next.

Questions