Bullet Train Coloring Page

This bullet train coloring page has the train coming right at you. The long round nose fills the right side of the sheet, and the cars shrink away toward the mountains on the left. A big windshield sits high on the front, with two lamps below it. Two kids wave from a green hill, cherry blossoms hang from a branch at the top, and the track runs out toward your feet.

Kids aged six to twelve will like the speed of it. Set aside about thirty minutes. Most of the shapes are large, so markers work fine here, though the small side windows need a thin tip.

Colors for a fast train

Start with white. Fast trains in Japan are often white with a stripe, and you can leave the paper bare for the body. Fill the wide band along the nose with sky blue, and use navy for the thin line below it. The windows can be pale blue or gray.

The blossoms want soft pink with a yellow center. Make the branch brown, and try a little purple in the shadow of the big mountain. Snow stays white. The fields can be bright green, while the gravel along the track should be plain gray so it does not fight with the train.

Want something bolder? Paint the whole train red, or give it a rainbow stripe. Real railways have tried all kinds of paint schemes.

Tips for this bullet train coloring page

• Color the near windows first. They are the biggest and the easiest.
• Press harder near the nose and lighter toward the far end. That adds to the feeling of depth.
• Use a ruler to guide a pencil along the stripe if your hand wobbles.
• Add a light gray shadow under the nose, so the train sits on the track.

You can also draw speed lines behind the kids. Three or four long streaks will do it.

Why the nose is so long

The first of these lines opened in Japan in October 1964, just before the Tokyo Summer Olympics. It cut the trip from Tokyo to Osaka from over six hours to about four. The first trains could reach about 130 miles per hour. Since 2014 some lines have run at close to 200.

The English name comes from a Japanese term, dangan ressha, that dates back to 1939. It means bullet train. The long nose is not just for looks. When a fast train enters a narrow tunnel, the air in front of it gets squeezed and can make a loud boom. A smooth nose helps to soften that noise. There is much more in this article on the Shinkansen, the name of the Japanese network.

Markers can streak on a big white nose, so leave that part alone. Add just a hint of pale gray along the bottom edge, and the front of the train will look curved and smooth.

Something to do afterward

Try a perspective lesson. Lay a ruler along the top of the side windows, then along the bottom. Your child will see the two lines meet near the mountains. That single point is the trick artists use to show distance, and it is fun to find.

For geography, pull up a map of Japan and find Tokyo and Osaka. Then measure the same distance on a map of your own state or country. Where could you reach in four hours?

Younger kids can simply make up a name for the train. Fast names like Comet or Arrow fit well, and you can letter one along the blue band.

Find more trains

This bullet train coloring page belongs to our set of train coloring pages. Pair it with the sleek monorail for a future city theme, or with the rocket if your child is all about speed.

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