Axolotl coloring pages

These axolotls spend their days at the bottom of a lake: one walks along on four short legs, one swims past tall water plants, one rests on a round stone and one peeks out between two rocks. Bubbles rise above them, pebbles cover the lake floor and here and there a water lily floats on the surface.

The big axolotl head, the axolotl beside its eggs and the one meeting a snail have large, open shapes for little ones. The two axolotls at a sunken root, the clay jar with a passing fish and the two folk axolotls are full of leaves, fruit and flowers for older children.

The frilly gills on each side of the head are drawn as little branches, so give every branch its own shade of pink or red. Many axolotls are pale pink, others brown or nearly black, and the flowers and leaves on their backs can take any bright color you like.

Axolotls come from the lakes and canals around Mexico City, such as Xochimilco, and they stay in the water their whole lives, breathing through those feathery gills. The girl watching one in a glass bowl invites questions about how animals manage to live underwater.