Snowboarding Coloring Page

This snowboarding coloring page shows a kid flying off a snow ramp, knees bent and arms out for balance. A big sun shines in the corner and its long rays fill the sky, with mountains, pines and a BIG AIR sign below. The board has orange flames at both ends and a row of yellow stars. This medium page has a lot of small shapes, so it fits ages 6 to 12.

Pick the colors first

Snowboard gear is a fun place to get loud. Our colored sample goes with a purple jacket with a diamond band, teal pants with yellow stripes, red boots and a pink board, plus an orange helmet and mint goggles. That mix works because no two neighbors share a color. Have your child try the same trick, so the jacket does not melt into the pants.

The board is the star here. The flames and the five stars are already drawn, so kids can try a new color for each one. Use a pencil first if they want to add their initials, then go over it with a marker.

Keep the snow white and let the sky carry the blue. Shade every other ray light blue, or fade from yellow near the sun to blue at the edge of the page. The rider's skin, jacket and helmet are all up to you, and many kids like to make the snowboarder look like themselves.

How long this snowboarding coloring page takes

Set aside 40 to 50 minutes. The sky is split into many long rays, and each one is its own shape. Older kids may want to color them with a crayon held flat, which covers more paper with less hand strain.

The fiddly bits are on the rider. The jacket has a row of diamonds, the scarf ends in a thin fringe, and each boot has straps and a ribbed cuff. Along the bottom of the page, a string of flags adds 14 small triangles, so tell kids to save those for last.

Make it look fast

• Press hard on the board, then lightly at both curled ends. The fade adds some motion.
• Stroke each ray from the sun outward instead of in circles.
• Add a spray of tiny dots above the ramp, as if snow just flew off the lip.
• Color one pine a lighter green than the others. This pushes it back into the distance.
• Draw one more curved trail line on the ramp if the snow feels too bare.

Where snowboards came from

The snowboard is younger than many grandparents. In 1965, an engineer from Muskegon, Michigan, named Sherman Poppen bolted two skis together. He later added a rope at the front for steering. His wife came up with the name Snurfer, a mix of the words snow and surfer. The Britannica article on snowboarding tells the full story.

That simple toy caught on fast. About one million Snurfers had been sold by the end of the 1970s. Snowboarding reached the Winter Olympics in 1998, at the Games in Nagano, Japan.

Share that timeline with your kids and ask them to do the math. How many years passed between the first Snurfer and those Olympics? The answer is 33.

Beyond the page

Kids love to invent things, so borrow the Poppen story. Ask your child to dream up a new snow toy made from two things you own. Have them draw it on the back of this page and give it a name, the way the Snurfer got its name.

Teachers can turn the sheet into a short writing task. Students finish this sentence: The first time I tried this trick, I. Older kids can write the rider's thoughts in a speech bubble.

Science fits too. Tape a strip of paper to a tilted book, then slide a coin down it. Swap the paper for wax paper and try again. Which surface was faster?

Next stop on the mountain

Finished this snowboarding coloring page already? Our new skiing coloring page has the same kind of mountain feel, and the sledding coloring page is a gentler option for younger brothers and sisters.

Questions