Winter coloring pages

Most of these sheets are set outdoors: two children sharing one wooden sled on a snowy hill, a girl skating on a small frozen pond, a fox leaving paw prints between birch trees, and a log cabin among the firs with smoke curling from its chimney.

For preschoolers there are three large snowflakes, a chubby penguin waving in a bobble hat, a mouse peeking out of a big knit mitten and a bear asleep in its den. Older kids can take on the snowball fight with the dog or the deer and hare at the hay rack.

The snow is the white of the paper, so leave it bare and color only its shadows. Cool blues and violets work well under the sled and around the cabin. Then add one warm color, such as a reddish brown on the firewood or red on the bullfinch’s chest.

These sheets get the most use in December and January, over winter break and on snow days. Penguins and polar bears also fit a class unit on polar animals, and the bird feeder and sleeping bear go well with a lesson on how wildlife gets through the cold.