What age are space coloring pages for?

Two to eight, depending on which one. Saturn, the alien and the space dog suit two to four; the astronaut, shuttle and comet suit four to six; the rover, space station and lunar lander are for six and up.

Which space page should I print first?

The astronaut. It is the one that makes the rest of the category make sense — everything else here is a machine or a rock, and that is the person who goes there.

Are these pages accurate?

They are honest cartoons rather than diagrams. Proportions are simplified for colouring, but the parts are the real parts: the rover's mast carries cameras, the station's wings are solar panels, and the lander stands on four legs because it never had to move through air.

Space Coloring Pages

Space coloring pages for kids: an astronaut floating in a padded suit, a shuttle climbing on its boosters, Saturn and its rings, a lunar lander on four legs, a Mars rover, a space station, a comet, a satellite, a friendly alien and a dog in a helmet. They run from a two-year-old's first circle-and-rings Saturn to a rover detailed enough to keep an eight-year-old busy for an hour. Print any of them on A4 or US Letter, or color them online with the paint bucket.

Two kinds of page in one category

Space splits more sharply by age than anything else on the site, and the pages here are deliberately built at both ends of that split. Saturn is a circle with rings and a two-year-old can finish it. The Mars rover has six wheels with individual treads, a camera mast and solar panels divided into dozens of cells, and it will occupy an eight-year-old for the best part of an hour. There is no middle setting on a subject like this, so rather than aim for one, pick the page to match the child.

If you are printing for a group of mixed ages, the easy end is Saturn, the alien and the space dog; the hard end is the rover, the space station and the lunar lander. The astronaut and the shuttle sit comfortably in between and are the safest choice if you only print one.

Most of this is real, and that is the point

Only the alien is invented. Everything else on these pages exists or has existed: people have climbed down that lunar ladder, the rover is on Mars now, somebody is asleep on the space station as you read this, and the satellite is the reason the map in your car knows where it is. Children assume space is a story, and the single most useful thing you can do while they colour is mention, without making a lesson of it, that it is not.

The alien being the exception is worth saying out loud too. Nobody knows what one would look like, so green is a convention rather than a fact — which makes it the one page in this category where a child cannot colour something the wrong colour, and a good answer for a child who worries about getting it right.

Colouring space without a black page

The instinct with a space page is to fill the background with black, and it empties a felt-tip in about four minutes. These pages are drawn with small stars and sparse backgrounds precisely so that a dark sky is optional rather than implied. If a child does want one, a blue or purple pencil shaded lightly reads as night far better than solid black, and leaves the outlines visible underneath.

Frequently asked questions

What age are space coloring pages for?: Two to eight, depending on which one. Saturn, the alien and the space dog suit two to four; the astronaut, shuttle and comet suit four to six; the rover, space station and lunar lander are for six and up.
Which space page should I print first?: The astronaut. It is the one that makes the rest of the category make sense — everything else here is a machine or a rock, and that is the person who goes there.
Are these pages accurate?: They are honest cartoons rather than diagrams. Proportions are simplified for colouring, but the parts are the real parts: the rover's mast carries cameras, the station's wings are solar panels, and the lander stands on four legs because it never had to move through air.

Two kinds of page in one category

Most of this is real, and that is the point

Colouring space without a black page

Frequently asked questions

What age are space coloring pages for?: Two to eight, depending on which one. Saturn, the alien and the space dog suit two to four; the astronaut, shuttle and comet suit four to six; the rover, space station and lunar lander are for six and up.
Which space page should I print first?: The astronaut. It is the one that makes the rest of the category make sense — everything else here is a machine or a rock, and that is the person who goes there.
Are these pages accurate?: They are honest cartoons rather than diagrams. Proportions are simplified for colouring, but the parts are the real parts: the rover's mast carries cameras, the station's wings are solar panels, and the lander stands on four legs because it never had to move through air.