Free printable summer coloring pages to help you beat the heat

Children painting and coloring our free printable summer coloring pages with watercolors and colored pencils; a little girl nearby takes a bite out of a slice of watermelon.

In summer, when it’s impossibly hot outside and all you wanna do is stay inside, it can be hard to find things to do. Yes, there are numerous streaming movie and video game options these days, but sometimes it’s nice to do something creative—to wake up the part of your brain that goes all sluggish when things start to get sweaty.

Enter: These free printable summer coloring pages! We’ve got 12 different designs for kids and adults, plus some fun ideas for making your summertime coloring sessions extra cool. (Yes, there’s ice cream involved.) So let’s dive in already!

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Summertime coloring fun  

Coloring is one of those rare activities that’s a good idea any time of year—it’s why we offer free coloring pages for just about every season or holiday! But those blazing summer days where there’s a heat advisory in effect and no way to get to the local pool are a particularly good time for it. 

That said, there are always ways to make coloring even more fun. Here are a few ideas:

  • Make it part of an indoor scavenger hunt. Hide coloring pages in one place, crayons and a special treat in others. Make the hunt as hard (or easy) as you want. Find more tips and free printables for clues here. 
  • Break out the timer. Add a little friendly competition by setting a timer for 10 minutes and give everyone a coloring page. See who can produce the most complete coloring page by the end of the session.
  • Color in a complementary way. Look up a color wheel on the internet. For each crayon you choose, check the color wheel and find that color’s exact opposite (known as its “complementary color”), then color with that crayon instead. See what kind of finished product everyone ends up with!
  • Color some ice cream before you open the crayons. Get some vanilla ice cream, some whole milk, and some food coloring. Let everyone pick their color of choice, then mix up some magic milkshakes in a blender! Use 1/2 pint of ice cream with 1/3 cup milk for one small milkshake. You can add colorful toppings or mix-ins like coated chocolate candies, gummy worms, or rainbow sprinkles. Just be sure to rinse the blender between colors, so your milkshakes don’t turn out muddy looking. 

 

Okay, everyone’s got their cold treat and their crayons. Now it’s time to pick out a coloring page!

Summer coloring pages for kids  

You know we had to go with sweet summer treats and fun fish for kids in summer, right? We threw in a few more challenging designs for older kids, too—they’ll act like they’re not excited as they oh-so-casually grab a crayon, but. we all know the truth. 😉

 

Summer coloring pages for adults  

Hey, kids don’t need to have all the fun! Adults also get the urge to color, and we support that 100%. These super detailed designs are perfect for kids at heart who want to zone out with some soothing hues.

 

 

Markers and pencils

 

Tips for shading 

Want to try your hand at shading? We’ve got pretty great artists here at Hallmark, and they’ve got some pretty awesome advice to take your coloring game to the next level.

  • Simplify. Keep things from getting visually overwhelming by limiting colors to just two or three options.
  • Go monochrome. Pick a few shades of the same color (example: pink, dark pink and light pink).
  • Be complimentary. Pick three colors that are next to each other in the rainbow, like green, blue and purple.
  • Under pressure. Use different amounts of pressure to create darker areas, lighter areas and blend different colors.
  • Try pointillism. Use markers to make dots of a darker color (orange) to create shading on a lighter color (yellow). Look at you being all artistic!

What to do with summer coloring pages when they’re done  

Two children sit at an aqua colored table with free printable summer coloring pages, slices of watermelon, watercolor paints and colored pencils.

 

Everyone’s done coloring their masterpiece…now what? Here are some ideas for how to make the fun last or brighten someone’s day.

  • Tuck it into a card. Send a little sunshine (the not hot kind) to someone you know by putting a finished coloring page in a sweet card and sending it to whoever you feel like could use a smile, lik Grandpa, a favorite aunt or a friend they don’t get to see as much when school is out.
  • Decorate a blanket fort. It’s too hot to build a fort outside? Well, thank goodness for blanket forts! Get some chairs, sheets, blankets and cushions and construct a sprawling fort. Fancy up the inside by pinning those finished coloring pages to the “walls” with springy clothes pins.
  • Hide it for Mom or Dad to find. Most moms and dads don’t get a summer vacation. Yes, it’s a bummer, but you can put a smile on their face by putting your finished summer coloring pages somewhere special for them to find. Maybe fold one and put it between the pages of the book Dad’s currently reading. Or leave one on the driver’s seat of Mom’s car for her to find when she leaves for work!

 

Whatever you do with your summer coloring pages, we hope you have lots of fun making them your own.

Need more summer celebration ideas? We have a whole treasure trove of them: