Mandala and pattern coloring8 pictures
Color by number
A pixel-style grid where each numbered square gets the color shown in the key, and the picture appears when the squares are filled. It is for children in kindergarten to grade 3 who are practicing numbers and following directions.
- Fresh problems every time
- Answer key on its own page
- Print or PDF, Letter or A4
- Free, no sign-up
On this page
Each square in the grid holds a number, and the number tells you what color to use. Colored in, the squares form a picture. The sheet is a form of coloring practice with a small puzzle at the end: what is it?
What prints
The title is "Color by Number". The instruction line says to color each square with the color for its number, that squares with no number stay white, and asks what picture appears. At the top is a row of color swatches with labels like "1 = red", "2 = pink" and "3 = light blue". The grid fills the rest of the page. Squares in the picture hold a small grey number, and squares in the background of the picture are empty, so they stay white.
How many numbers appear depends on the picture, because each picture uses between two and four or five colors, never more than the key shows. Colors in the key can be red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black, gray, light blue and light green. The grid is about 14 to 16 squares across.
An answer page is also drawn, in which the squares are filled in color and the line "It's a" followed by the picture's name is printed beneath. Print it only if you want it.
The settings
- Hidden picture: Surprise me, Heart, Star, Apple, Fish, House, Tree, Flower or Rocket. The page opens on Surprise me, which picks one at random each time you press New design.
How to use it
Start by reading the key aloud with the child, matching each number to a swatch. Then find all the squares with a single number and color them in one go, which is faster than switching colors. Markers or crayons both work, but crayons are easier to keep neat in small squares. Pencil numbers show through light colors, which is why the numbers are printed in soft grey.
Work with children who do not yet read numerals. They can match the number in the square to the number in the key, which is a counting-and-matching task on its own. Older children can color the picture, and then add a background of their own over the empty squares.
Print on plain paper at 100 percent.
Worked example: a Friday free-choice activity
A first-grade teacher picks Surprise me and presses New design until she has four different pictures: a fish, a house, a rocket and a tree. She prints a few of each. The key on the fish reads 1 = light blue, 2 = orange, 3 = yellow, 4 = black. A child colors all the 1s light blue, and the water appears. Then orange makes the body, yellow makes the tail, and a single black square makes the eye. The child calls out "It's a fish!" before finishing. The teacher keeps the answer pages in a folder for anyone who needs to check.
More coloring
For free-form designs, try mandala coloring pages or geometric coloring pages. NRICH, linked above, has number and pattern activities to follow up.