Squirrel Coloring Page
About This Coloring Page
A squirrel is the autumn animal children actually see. Hedgehogs and owls are mostly in books; a squirrel is in the park, on the fence, up the tree in the garden, and it is doing exactly what this drawing shows — holding an acorn in both paws, deciding where to put it. A page a child can match to something they saw yesterday is a page they want to finish.
The tail is the whole drawing, and it is drawn that way on purpose: a big curved sweep that takes more crayon than the rest of the animal put together. Colouring it asks for long strokes that follow a curve, which is the same movement as the loops of early handwriting, and it comes at the start of the page while the hand is still fresh.
The acorns on the ground are there to be counted, and the fallen leaves are there to be any colour a child likes. Red, orange, brown and yellow are all correct, and so is green if they argue for it. A sheet with a strict part and a loose part is the shape that gets finished rather than abandoned.
Skills Practiced
How to Use This Coloring Page
- Count the acorns first. The one in the paws plus the ones on the ground. Small sets of nearly identical objects are the easiest counting practice there is.
- Colour the tail in one long stroke. Start at the base and follow the curve to the tip. Long sweeping strokes are handwriting warm-ups in disguise.
- Talk about where the acorn is going. Squirrels bury them and forget half. That one fact starts a story a child will finish for you.