Drum
Toddler · 2–3A drum with two drumsticks — bang, bang! Color the drum and the sticks! A fun way to talk about music and making sounds. Print it on A4 or US Letter, or color it online with tap-to-fill.
The drum and the sticks
A drum is split here into the body, the top skin and the drumsticks, which is more separate parts than most toddler pages carry and makes it a good step up for a child who has outgrown the two-region shapes. The sticks are thin, so they ask for a bit more control than the rest of the page.
It is also one of the few instruments a young child can genuinely play. No technique, no tuning, immediate result. That makes the drum a reliable favourite and a good page for a child who is not usually interested in colouring.
Beat and rhythm
Tapping a steady beat is closely tied to language development — the same timing sense that keeps a beat also breaks words into syllables. Clap your child's name, then a friend's, then a long word like el-e-phant. Children find this genuinely funny, and it is one of the most direct routes into hearing the parts inside a word.
Frequently asked questions
- How does keeping a beat help with reading?
- Clapping syllables uses the same timing skill as keeping a beat, and hearing that words break into parts is the first step in phonological awareness — the foundation phonics is built on.
- Is this page harder than the other toddler pages?
- Slightly. The drumsticks are narrow and need more control than the large rounded shapes elsewhere in this set, which makes it a good next step around three or four.