Free Printable Elephant Coloring Pages for Kids
Fun Facts About Elephants
- Elephants are the world’s largest land animal.
- You can tell the various species apart by the shape of their ears.
- Their trunks are multi-functional and can do things like act as a snorkel when swimming, hold (and spray) liters of water, and even pick up a peanut and shell it.
- Elephants spend most of their day eating.
- It’s true that an elephant never forgets.
For more interesting facts about elephants, check out this article by National Georgraphic Kids.
Amp Up the Fun with these Ideas for Using Free Coloring Pages
Coloring with crayons or markers is a fun and simple activity that is portable and good on so many levels. But there’s nothing that says you need to stick with just crayons when playing with these free printable coloring pages.
Start with coloring these elephant coloring pages and then add things from your craft bag. We stick to the same 27 items for every craft on this site so that once you fill your bag, you are all set to make anything you find here…yay!
Get the master list to fill your bag so that you can craft along too.) Put pieces of tissue paper on areas that you want to texture. Or add washi tape for some interesting patterns. Maybe you want to put some clouds in the sky or foam in the water…just fluff up some cotton balls and glue them in place. There are so many possibilities!
Keep reading to the bottom to download these Elephant Coloring Pages for FREE:)
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Enjoy Listening to the Story “Elmer the Patchwork Elephant” by David McKee
How to Improve Core Strength with Coloring
This next little tip will not only help improve your child’s core strength, but it will also improve should and wrist stability. It’s super simple. Just tape the color page onto the wall and color on the vertical surface. Another position you can try is to have your child lay on their back under a table with the coloring page taped to the bottom of the table. Then they will just reach up to color the page.
One last position to try is to sit at a table but turn your child’s seat sideways so that their back is not supported. This will force them to engage those core muscles in order to sit up straight.
Tips for Improving Fine Motor Skills
I know that when coloring with little ones, there are all kinds of special crayons out there that you can buy, but don’t bother. Instead, just break your regular crayons in half. Trust me. I know that it’s nice to have beautiful new crayons, but they are better tools for promoting fine motor skills when broken. Take it from an occupational therapist with years of experience. This makes it almost impossible for children to grasp the crayon with a fisted grasp and instead to use fingertips, moving toward a mature grasp for better writing when the time comes.
Gently encourage your child to use fingertips to hold the crayon, but then let them use their own creativity to color the picture, even going outside of the lines if they haven’t yet mastered staying inside the lines.
Printable Coloring Pages
More Tips for Using Coloring Pages for Kids
We’re always telling kids that they need to stay inside the lines when coloring, but the truth is that little ones aren’t necessarily developmentally ready for that. Generally speaking, kids should begin coloring inside the lines by about ages 5 to 6. If your child is in that age range and still scribbling like crazy, try this…
Before having your child color on the page, go around some of the main borders of the picture with a bead of Elmer’s glue (let it dry overnight) or hot glue. This way there is a tactile border in addition to the visual border to follow.
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