Sailing Boat Coloring Page

About this coloring page

A small sailing boat on gentle waves, with two triangular sails and a flag. This is the simplest page in the category: five or six large shapes and nothing that needs a steady hand, which makes it a good first vehicle for a three-year-old or a fast win for an older child who has given up on something harder. The two sails are separate triangles, so they can take different colors and the boat immediately looks striped without any planning. The waves are drawn as a few wide bands rather than a texture, which means a child can fill the sea in three strokes with the side of a crayon. The flag is the smallest shape and the last thing to do. Printed at A4 the boat sits centrally with room above it, so there is space to write a name for the boat, which children enjoy more than the coloring itself about half the time.

Color suggestions

• Red hull, white sails
• Two sails, two colors
• Blue waves, lightest at the top
• Name the boat above it

Did you know?

• Port and starboard exist because early ships were steered with a board over the right-hand side, the steer-board, which meant they had to dock on the left, the port side, to avoid crushing it.
• A sail does not simply catch wind from behind. It works like a wing turned on its side, and the pressure difference across the curved surface is what lets a boat sail at an angle into the wind rather than only away from it.