Penguin
Toddler · 2–3Waddle, waddle! This chubby penguin, with little wings, orange feet, and a pointy beak, is a delightful coloring page for toddlers and preschoolers. The rounded body and white belly are easy to fill, and the wings, feet, and beak add cheerful pops of color to explore. Coloring it is a natural way to talk about cold, snowy places, how penguins waddle and slide, and the black-and-white colors many penguins wear. The thick outlines are forgiving for small hands, so children finish feeling proud. Print the ink-friendly PDF in A4 or US Letter, or color it online with tap-to-fill and a soft sound as each area fills. A perfect fit for a winter theme, an Antarctica unit, or a cozy afternoon of coloring at home or in the classroom.
Black, white and orange
A penguin is one of the few animals where children already know the colours and want to get them right, and this page separates body, tummy, wings, feet and beak so they can. It is a good page for a child who enjoys accuracy.
It is also, like the snowman, a page where large areas are meant to stay white. Leaving the tummy blank while colouring the back dark is the correct answer, and working that out is more interesting than filling everything.
A bird that cannot fly
Penguins have wings, but they use them to swim rather than fly — underwater they are extremely fast and agile. The contradiction between bird and cannot fly is one of the first exceptions children meet to a rule they have just learned, and it is a useful one.
Frequently asked questions
- Why can penguins not fly?
- Their wings evolved into flippers for swimming instead. They are superb underwater, which matters more where they live than flying would.
- What age is this page for?
- Three to six. Five regions, with a natural colour scheme most children already know.
