Summer Road Trip Coloring Page

This summer road trip coloring page sends a van full of friends down the road to the sea. Three kids and a happy dog look out of the windows, and everyone is smiling. A surfboard, two suitcases and a beach ball ride up on the roof rack. A yellow sign up ahead says the beach is only 5 miles away.

The page works well for ages 5 to 10 and takes about 30 minutes. The big van is easy to fill, while the faces in the windows need a slower hand.

Take a look inside and out

Each window holds a new friend. A girl with long yellow hair sits at the back. Next to her is a child with curly dark hair, then a dog with a pink tongue and one brown ear. A boy in a blue cap looks out of the front window. All four look ready for a swim, and the dog looks the most excited of the bunch.

The van has a rounded nose and a cream top over a red body. Two flowers decorate its sides, and a panel in the middle spells out SUMMER, so your child can color each letter. Look for the door handle, the big round wheels and the bumpers at both ends.

Behind the van, a pair of palm trees and a green hill frame a slice of blue bay. In front, five flowers grow in the grass near the road sign.

Summer road trip coloring page color ideas

Red and cream is a classic van. Any color works. Teal and white feels like the seaside. Orange with yellow flowers looks like a van from an old photo. If you have a few kids at the table, let each one pick a new color and compare the results.

Keep the road a soft gray. Yellow works for the dashes in the middle, though white is the common choice on many roads. The flowers on the side can match the grass flowers, which ties the top and bottom of the page together.

Luggage is a nice place for bold pattern. Add stripes or stickers to the suitcases, and give the surfboard a stripe in a surprising color.

Tips for a shiny van

• Color the faces first. Then do the windows around them in a very pale blue.
• Press hard on the tires for a deep, dark rubber look, and keep the hubcaps light.
• Leave a thin white line along the top of the van to look like shine.
• Trace the letters in SUMMER with a sharp pencil before you fill them in.

Facts about a famous American road

Long drives are part of summer in the United States. One road is more famous than the rest. Route 66 opened in 1926 and ran from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California. It covered 2,448 miles and crossed eight states. That is a long way!

Those states were Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Can your child find them on a map? Try it. The writer John Steinbeck made its nickname, the Mother Road, popular in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. The road was officially taken out of the US highway system in 1985, but people still love to drive what is left of it.

Games for the long drive

Print a few copies before you leave. They help during those long stretches when the screens run out of charge and everyone in the back seat starts to ask how much farther it is. Clip one to a board, then hand over a small box of colored pencils and let the back seat get to work on the van, the luggage and the long gray road.

Try a license plate hunt too. Write down each state you spot. Or play the road sign game, where the first one to see a sign with the letter B wins a point.

At school, this sheet makes a good start for a story. Where is this van headed, and what might go wrong on the way? Students can add a stop sign, a gas station or a giant ball of string to the road.

Keep the trip going

When the van gets there, print the beach coloring page for the next stop. Kids who love cars may also like the classic car coloring page.

Questions