Coloring books for toddler programs: daycare, home visiting, early intervention and libraries
What is in the book, what you may print for a group, and how to get more than a few copies. Written for people who work with children aged one to three.
This page is for adults who use coloring pages at work rather than at home: toddler rooms in daycare centers, home visiting programs, early intervention and speech services, library story time, parent groups and church nurseries. What all of that work has in common is a group of children at different levels and very little time to prepare, which changes what makes a page usable.
Three things decide whether a page works with this age. The outline has to be thick enough to survive a crayon held in a fist, or half the children see no result from what they did. One drawing per page, because two or three subjects split attention that lasts a few minutes. Printing on one side only, because a marker goes through ordinary paper and otherwise ruins the next sheet in the pile.
The word printed under each drawing is there for the adult as much as for the child. It gives you something to say and something to point at, and it turns a coloring page into a short exchange about what is on it. In a Spanish speaking setting the word is in Spanish, because the Spanish edition is a separate book with its own words rather than an English book with a translated cover.
The free pages on this site may be printed in any number for children in your care, at home, in a classroom, in a daycare, in a library or in a waiting room. No permission and no attribution are needed. What is not allowed is selling them, putting them behind a paywall, or gathering them into a collection you pass on as your own work. Ten pages are available, taken from the book itself and in the same order, so what you print is an honest sample of what the book looks like.
For the book itself, the paperback is sold on Amazon in English and in Spanish and can be ordered in any quantity there. If you need many copies, a set for several rooms, or a printable file for a group, write to us and say what you need and how many children it is for. We answer in English, Spanish and Russian.
Questions parents ask
Can I print your free pages for my whole group?
Yes, in as many copies as you need, and no permission or credit is required. That covers homes, classrooms, daycare centers, libraries and waiting rooms. The one limit is that the pages may not be sold, put behind a paywall, or collected into a set that is passed on as someone else's work.
Can I photocopy pages from the book for a group?
No. The free pages on this site are made to be printed in any number, and copying the book instead is not something we can allow. If you need one copy per child and a bulk order is a problem, write to us and describe the situation rather than working around it.
How do I order many copies at once?
The paperback is on Amazon in English and in Spanish, and any quantity can be ordered there directly. For larger orders, sets for several rooms, or anything an ordinary order does not cover, write to us and say how many children it is for.
Is the Spanish edition a translated version of the English one?
It is a separate book. The drawings are the same, and the word under each drawing is in Spanish, not an English word with a label added. It is sold under its own title, so a Spanish speaking family or classroom gets a Spanish book rather than a translated one.
What age is this book actually for?
One to three years old, and the working range is wider than the number on the cover suggests, because what matters is what the hand does rather than the birthday. Past about three and a half most children find these pages too easy, and the signal is boredom rather than neatness.
Can I give the printed pages to families to take home?
Yes. Printing pages and handing them to the families you work with is exactly what the free pages are for, and no permission is needed. The only thing that is not allowed is selling them or presenting them as a collection of your own.
Buying for work
Four pages on what the book is, what it costs, how to get many copies and what you may print, written for the kind of work you do.
- A Spanish coloring book for speech therapy and early intervention with toddlers111 drawings, one per page, the word printed underneath in Spanish. Sold on Amazon in English and Spanish, and available in quantity for a caseload.
- A coloring book to leave with families: home visiting programsA book in the family's own language that stays in the home. English and Spanish editions on Amazon, any quantity, one per family on your caseload.
- The same book for everyone in the room: parent groups and librariesOne title, fifteen copies, one language for the whole room. English and Spanish editions on Amazon, and ten pages free to print for a session or a giveaway.
- Coloring books for a toddler room: daycare and family child careOne book per child or one for the shelf, in English or Spanish. 111 drawings, printed on one side, ordered in any quantity on Amazon.
Where this kind of page is used
Daycare and toddler rooms
A group of eight has eight different levels in it, and one page has to work for the child who scribbles across the sheet and for the one who already aims. Very simple, very large drawings are what covers both. Single sided printing matters more here than anywhere: a marker that soaks through marks a blank back rather than the next child's drawing.
Home visiting programs
What is left in the home has to keep working after you leave, which means the parent needs something to say rather than a worksheet to finish. The word under the drawing is that script: name it, point at it, let the child choose the color. Pages can be printed for every family on your list and handed over to keep.
Early intervention and speech services
Naming is the point of the page here, and the drawing has to be recognizable without being explained first. One subject per sheet keeps the target single, and the printed word gives the same label every session. In Spanish the word is Spanish, which is the part that is hardest to find in materials for this age.
Libraries and story time
A page handed out after story time has to be printable in unknown numbers and has to work for whoever walks in, at any age between one and three. The free pages here can be printed in any quantity with no permission and no attribution, and each one is a page from the book rather than a sample made to look good.
Parent groups and church nurseries
Here the adult and the child work at the same table, and the page has to give both of them something to do. The child colors, the adult reads the word out loud and asks what is on the page. For a Spanish speaking group the Spanish edition carries Spanish words, so the reading part is in the family's own language.
What is in the book
- 111 drawings, all different, hand drawn
- Thick outlines, no small detail
- One drawing per page
- Printed on one side only
- The word under each drawing, in outline letters that can be colored too
- 8.5 by 11 inches, separate English and Spanish editions
Printing for a group
Ten pages from the book, free, in US Letter and A4. Print as many copies as you need for the children you work with. No permission, no attribution, no account.
See all free pagesFull terms of useWhich page suits a specific child
Sold and shipped by Amazon. We earn from the sale.
Many copies, or something we do not sell yet
Write to us and say what you need and how many children it is for. Larger orders, sets for several rooms, a printable file for a group: if it is possible, we will say so, and if it is not, we will say that too. We answer in English, Spanish and Russian.
Where the developmental facts come from
Ages on this site are typical ranges, not deadlines. Children reach these points at their own pace, and a few months either way is ordinary.
- Learn the Signs. Act Early.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Hand and Finger Skills: 2 Year OldsAmerican Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org
- Developmental MilestonesStatPearls, National Library of Medicine
- Developmental Milestones: Fine Motor and Visual Motor SkillsChildren's Hospital of Orange County