Turtle Coloring Page

About this coloring page

A turtle walking, with a patterned shell divided into large sections. The shell is the page: the sections repeat, so a child learns the filling motion once and then performs it a dozen times, and they are usually visibly neater by the last section than the first. Alternating two greens across the sections produces something that looks deliberately patterned with no planning at all. The head, legs and tail are separate shapes that take a single color quickly, so the picture looks finished even if the shell is only half done. Turtles are slow enough as a subject that children take their time here, which is unusual and worth encouraging. Printed at A4 the turtle fills the width of the sheet with a clean margin. On ordinary copier paper crayon and pencil both behave across the shell sections; a thick felt tip will merge two sections into one and lose the pattern that makes the drawing work. Printed as a turtle coloring sheet at A3, the shell sections become wide enough to hold two tones each, which suits an older child.

Color suggestions

• Two greens alternating on the shell
• Brown shell, green skin
• One color in three depths
• Yellow underbelly

Did you know?

• A turtle's shell is part of its skeleton. The ribs and spine are fused into it, so a turtle can no more leave its shell than you could walk away from your ribcage.
• Turtles have no teeth. They tear food with a hard beak, and the shape of that beak tells you the diet: sharp and hooked for meat, broad and serrated for plants.