Fall Coloring Pages

Autumn hands you a finished color palette. These 51 fall coloring pages put that palette on paper, from a squirrel hauling acorns across a forest floor to a harvest moon hanging low over a farm. Every design downloads as a free printable PDF, sized for standard US Letter paper.

The set splits into simple and detailed line art, so one sheet suits a preschooler and the next holds an adult's attention for an hour. Simple designs use bold, well spaced outlines that forgive a shaky grip. Start younger kids on Pumpkin Patch Harvest on a Farm or Children Jumping Joyfully Into Autumn Leaf Piles. Detailed designs pack fine texture into bark, fur and fallen leaves. Deer in a Misty Autumn Forest and Cozy Cabin Surrounded by Fall Foliage reward colored pencils and patience.

Teachers and parents reach for these in September and October, when leaf units, harvest projects and rainy indoor afternoons all land at once. Hand kids a limited palette to start: burnt orange, gold, deep red, plus one cool green for contrast. Four colors read as autumn even when the coloring strays outside the lines, and the restriction speeds up the whole activity.

The middle of the set is where autumn becomes an activity rather than a backdrop. Family Apple Picking in an Orchard, Harvest Festival With Hay Bales and Corn Stalks and Hot Apple Cider and Fall Treats on a Table all sit squarely in the warm end of that four-color palette. Autumn Forest Path With Colorful Falling Leaves and Squirrel Gathering Acorns in a Fall Forest are the woodland pages. Two sheets are worth saving for late in the season: Autumn Harvest Moon Over a Farm and Crows on a Fence With a Fall Cornfield, both of which need a colored sky rather than a white one.

Single subjects for the youngest colorists

Not every sheet needs a scene. Thirteen pages here put one object on an otherwise empty sheet, which is the fastest route to a finished picture for a child under six. Giant Maple Leaf is a single leaf filling the whole page. Oak Leaf and Acorn Pair, Pinecone and Pine Sprig and Pumpkin With a Curling Vine work the same way. The pumpkin carries no carved face, so it belongs to the whole season rather than one night in October. Food sheets fill in fast: Basket of Apples, Slice of Pumpkin Pie, Corn Cob With the Husk Peeled Back, Apple Cider Jug With a Cup and Mug of Hot Cocoa With a Leaf, whose mug is left blank for a child to design. Rain Boots and a Fallen Leaf, Sunflower in a Jar, Bundle of Wheat Tied With Twine and Hay Bale With a Pitchfork round the group out.

Woodland animals

Eight animal sheets cover what the woods are doing as the weather turns. Squirrel on a Tree Stump shows growth rings across the cut wood, which turns the page into a short lesson about how old the tree was. Chipmunk With Full Cheeks and Hedgehog Carrying a Leaf both show animals stockpiling for the cold. Fox Curled Up Asleep in Leaves and Rabbit Under a Fern are the calm ones, good for the end of the day. Owl on a Bare Branch, Birds Nest on a Branch, Mouse Sheltering Under a Mushroom and Geese Flying Over a Pond complete the set. The geese heading south are the clearest signal in the whole collection that the season has turned.

Scenes, patterns and people

Six detailed sheets take longer and look it. Leaf Wreath With Acorns and Maple Leaf Mandala Wheel are the pattern pages, and both cut out well once they are finished. Country Road Lined With Trees teaches perspective without mentioning it, since the trees shrink toward the horizon. Barn With a Weathervane and Market Stall of Squash and Gourds are the farm pages, and Window Looking Out at a Tree puts you indoors looking out. Two more sit alongside them: Lantern Hanging From a Branch and Bicycle With a Basket of Leaves, whose spoked wheels are the finest work on the hub. Four sheets put children in the picture: Boy With a Leaf Rake, Girl Holding a Bunch of Leaves, Child Carrying a Pumpkin and Girl Picking Apples From a Tree. Every garment on those four is left blank, so the clothes are the child's decision. One last indoor sheet, Stack of Books With a Mug and a Leaf, leaves all six book covers empty for titles of your own.

More seasonal line art: Thanksgiving, Turkeys, Halloween and Forests.

The pumpkin earns a set of its own. Our pumpkin coloring pages hold fifteen sheets, running from carved jack-o-lantern faces for toddlers through patch and vine scenes to a pumpkin mandala for adults.