Penguin Coloring Page
About This Coloring Page
Penguins are the rare animal that a small child can draw the idea of almost immediately: a rounded body, two flippers, a beak. That simplicity is why they turn up so often in early childhood, and why a penguin page tends to get finished rather than abandoned — the shapes are large and the child can tell what it is at every stage.
The scarf is the deliberate addition. It is a striped band, which means it can be patterned, and patterning a scarf is one of the easiest ways to introduce an AB-AB rule to a two- or three-year-old. Blue, white, blue, white, all the way along. The child sees the rule working, which is most of the lesson.
The snowman, trees and falling snowflakes turn a single animal into a season. Winter is the first season most children can name with confidence, because its evidence is so obvious, and a page that shows all of it at once gives them something concrete to attach the word to.
Skills Practiced
How to Use This Coloring Page
- Stripe the scarf in a repeating pattern. Two colours, alternating, all the way along. It is the simplest possible introduction to patterning and it looks deliberate when it is done.
- Leave the penguin's front white. Deciding to leave something uncoloured is a real choice, and it teaches that white is a colour on the page rather than an unfinished bit.
- Count the snowflakes. A small, finite set of shapes scattered across the page is a natural counting exercise that does not feel like one.