Octopus Coloring Page
About This Coloring Page
The octopus is the sea animal built for counting. Eight arms, each one a long curl with an edge on both sides, and a child who colours them one at a time will count them more than once and lose track at least once, which is how counting past five gets learned. The round head on top is one big open shape for the crayon to rest in afterwards.
The arms are the fine-motor work. Each is a curve that bends back on itself, and staying inside a curve that changes direction is the same control a child needs for a letter like s or g. Do them in order round the body and the page turns into a sequence; do them in two colours in turn and it turns into a pattern.
The rock, the two fish and the bubbles are there so the page has a place, and so a child who finishes the octopus has somewhere to go next. Ask how many arms an octopus has, then how many legs the child has, and whether an octopus could tie its shoes. The answer is a long one.
Skills Practiced
How to Use This Coloring Page
- Count the arms before you colour. Touch each one, one to eight. Then count them again at the end; the answer should not change.
- Do one arm at a time, all the way to the tip. Each curl bends back on itself. Follow it slowly; it is a letter shape without the letter.
- Colour the bubbles one at a time. Small circles with a clear edge. That is where the careful work is.