Squirrel Gathering Acorns In A Fall Forest Coloring Page

A squirrel sits upright at the foot of an oak, holding an acorn in both front paws with its tail curled high behind it. More acorns lie scattered in the leaf litter around it and a small hollow in the trunk hints at where they are going. Autumn leaves drift down between the branches. The shapes are large and the outlines clean, making this a comfortable page for children of around four to eight.

The tail is where to spend the effort. Rather than one flat brown, layer a lighter tan along the top edge where light would catch the fur and a deeper brown underneath, and stroke outward from the body. It takes a minute longer and makes the squirrel look genuinely furry. Keep the acorns two-tone, a warm brown cup and a paler nut.

Squirrels are worse at remembering than you would hope, and forests depend on it. A gray squirrel buries thousands of acorns in separate spots each autumn and never finds a good many of them, and every acorn it forgets has a chance of becoming an oak tree.