Children Catching Tadpoles In A Spring Pond Coloring Page

Three children lean in over a large round dip net held on a long wooden handle, and the net is full. A dozen tadpoles crowd inside it, each drawn with a round head, a pair of dark eyes and the beginnings of small limbs. The boy on the left grips the handle with both hands, the girl in the middle holds the rim, and the boy on the right watches with a fist tucked up. Behind them stand tall reeds and cattails, lily pads float off to the right, and three more tadpoles swim in the open water at the bottom of the page with ripples spreading around them.

The net is the clever part of the drawing. It is drawn as a fine mesh grid over the water, so you can see straight through it, and leaving that mesh white while coloring what is behind it is what sells the effect.

The reeds are long simple strokes and fill quickly.

A tadpole grows back legs first, then front, and reabsorbs its own tail rather than dropping it. The whole changeover is driven by a thyroid hormone, and in a cold spring it can take twice as long.