Birthday Cupcake Coloring Page

About this coloring page

A tall cupcake with four coils of piped frosting, a cherry on top, eight scattered sprinkles and a fluted wrapper sitting on a plate. The wrapper is divided into vertical panels, which is deliberate: it gives a child something to stripe, and striping a wrapper is far more satisfying at four years old than filling one flat shape. The wrapper is split into vertical panels, which is where most of the coloring time goes. The sprinkles are the smallest elements on the page and are best done with the fill tool rather than a brush if you are coloring on a screen. This is a good page for a birthday party activity because it prints fast, uses very little ink, and every child ends up with a visibly different cupcake even though they all started from the same drawing. If you are running this as a party activity, print the sheets in advance and put out only four or five colors rather than a full box. A limited palette makes children finish the picture instead of starting over each time they find a new pen. Cupcake coloring sheets are worth printing in a stack before a party, since the drawing prints small without losing its outlines and two or four will fit on a single sheet.

Color suggestions

• Pink or chocolate frosting
• Striped wrapper in two colors
• Red cherry
• Multi-colored sprinkles

Did you know?

• Cupcakes are named after the measuring method, not the shape. Early recipes measured ingredients in cups rather than weighing them, which made the cake far quicker to prepare.
• The first known printed reference appeared in 1796, in Amelia Simmons' American Cookery, the first cookbook written and published in America.