Elephant
Preschool · 3–5This friendly elephant, with its big round body, flappy ear, and curling trunk, is a favorite coloring page for preschoolers who love giant animals. The large body gives children plenty of room to fill, while the ear, legs, and trunk invite a chat about what makes an elephant special — its size, its long trunk, and the big ears it uses to keep cool. Coloring it is a natural way to talk about animals at the zoo or on safari and to practice careful, sweeping crayon strokes. The thick outlines keep it forgiving for growing hands. Print the ink-friendly PDF in A4 or US Letter, or color it online with tap-to-fill. A wonderful match for a zoo theme, a jungle unit, or a letter-E activity at home or in the classroom.
The trunk and the ear
An elephant is instantly recognisable from two features, and both are on this page: the trunk and the enormous ear, which is drawn as its own region so it can be shaded differently from the body. That ear is far bigger than children expect when they see one properly.
The body is one very large area, which makes this a good page for a child still learning to fill evenly rather than in patches.
What the trunk is for
Everything. Breathing, smelling, drinking, washing, picking up a single leaf or pushing over a tree. It is a nose and a hand at the same time, which is a genuinely astonishing thing and one of the better animal facts available for a four-year-old. The big ears, meanwhile, are for keeping cool — flapping them moves air over the blood vessels inside.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do elephants have such big ears?
- To keep cool. The ears are full of blood vessels, and flapping them moves air across and lowers the animal's temperature. African elephants live in hotter places and have the biggest ears.
- What age is this page for?
- Three to five. Large regions with one distinctive shape to talk about.
