Rocket
Preschool · 3–5A rocket ship blasting off to space! There are lots of parts to color — the body, the nose cone, the fins, the window, and the fiery flames. It is an exciting way to talk about space, planets, and counting down for lift-off. Print it on A4 or US Letter, or color it online with tap-to-fill. A perfect fit for a space theme at home or in the classroom.
A nose, a body, fins and flames
A rocket is a stack of shapes with an obvious order — the pointed nose at the top, the long body, the fins at the sides, and the flames underneath. Working top to bottom gives a child a plan, which is more useful than it sounds for children who colour at random and lose track of what they have done.
The flames are the one place on the page where two or three colours layered together look better than one, and it is an easy win: red, orange and yellow scribbled over each other produce something that genuinely looks like fire.
Counting down
A rocket is the reason most children first count backwards. Ten to blast-off is a real piece of number work — counting down is significantly harder than counting up and usually comes a year or so later — and it has the enormous advantage of being something a child asks to do.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is counting backwards harder?
- The forward sequence is learned as a chant; going backwards means actually knowing what comes before each number rather than reciting. It typically arrives around four or five, and blast-off countdowns are the most willing practice you will get.
- What age is this page for?
- Three to six. The main shapes are simple; the fins and flames give older children more to work with.