On this page
She can hardly believe her luck. This mermaid with a pearl coloring page shows a girl with long, straight dark hair holding a giant pearl on her open palm. Her other hand flies up beside her cheek in delight. Right below the pearl sits the huge open clam it came from, and sparkles dance in the water around it.
The page works well for kids from about 5 to 11. Allow 30 to 40 minutes. It has large calm areas of water, so a child can rest there after the busy scaled tail.
What is in the scene
The clam is the second star of the picture. Its top shell stands open like a fan, with ribs running out from the center. Its lower shell has a soft, wavy edge, and a smooth pink lining sits between the two. You could color that lining alone and get a lovely result.
Beams of sunlight slant down through the water from the top of the page. Three fish swim among them. Tall kelp grows behind the clam, and a starfish, a smaller starfish and a scallop lie on the sand. Her tail curves down and flicks up at the left, with a red and orange fin.
Mermaid with a pearl coloring page color ideas
Our sample has a warm tail in orange and yellow, like a goldfish. That warm tail stands out well against the cool blue water. Here are a few other ideas:
- A tail in two pinks with a coral red fin
- A sea green tail with a pale gold fin
- A purple clam with a peach lining
- A pink clam with a lilac lining
Water looks better with more than one blue. Use a light blue for the sunbeams and a slightly darker blue for the spaces between them. The beams will seem to glow, and you will not need any white at all.
Her string of tiny pearls deserves a soft touch. Leave those beads white and they will match the giant pearl in her hand.
Tips from our own test prints
Dark hair is easy to smudge. If you use a black or navy crayon, color it last and rest your hand on a scrap of paper. That keeps the wax off the rest of the page.
A pearl needs almost no color. Think of it as a white ball with a blush at the edge. Try gray on one side and pink on the other, then blend with a tissue.
The clam ribs run from the middle outward, so color in that same direction. Your strokes will follow the shape and make the shell look curved.
How a real pearl forms
Many people think a grain of sand starts a pearl, but that is rarely the case. Natural pearls most often begin when a tiny intruder or parasite settles inside a shelled animal. The animal covers it in layers, over and over. Those shiny layers are called nacre, and they also make the inside of many shells glow. Wild pearls are very rare. Hundreds of oysters or mussels may need to be opened to find a single one.
After the coloring
Make a pearl hunt. Crumple some foil into small balls, hide them around the room and let your child search for treasure. Count them up, then sort them from small to large.
For a writing idea, ask what the mermaid will do with her pearl. Will she keep it, give it away or put it back? Older kids can write three sentences and tape them under the picture.
More treasure from the sea
Kids who like hunting for riches should print the mermaid treasure coloring page. The mermaid shell throne coloring page has another great big shell to fill in.
Questions
How do I make the pearl look round?
Color only the outer edge with a pale pink or gray, then fade toward the middle. Leave the small oval and the curved line white. Those are the shine.
What are the long lines in the water?
Those are beams of sunlight coming down from the surface. Each beam is its own shape, so kids can color them a lighter blue than the water.
Is this page hard?
It sits in the middle. The tail and the clam have many sections, but each one is a good size. Most kids from 5 up can manage it.
