Doll Coloring Pages

• Rag dolls: cloth bodies, stitched smiles, yarn hair and patchwork dresses.
• Baby dolls: round cheeks, a bonnet, a stroller or a cradle.
• Paper dolls: one figure plus outfits with fold-over tabs.
• Nesting dolls: wooden dolls from Russia that open to show a smaller doll inside, and another inside that.
• Kokeshi dolls: simple wooden dolls from Japan with a round head, a straight body and no arms or legs.
• Fancy dolls: ringlets, lace collars and long dresses in the style of old porcelain dolls.
• Dollhouses and tea parties: furnished rooms, tiny teacups and a table set for guests.

Dolls are among the oldest toys in the world. Children in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome played with dolls made of wood, clay and cloth. Paper dolls with changeable outfits became popular in Europe in the 1700s. The first Russian nesting dolls were carved around 1890.

Coloring tips by type:

• Rag dolls. Use flat, cheerful colors and add stitches, short dashes along the seams in a darker shade. Cheeks are two pink circles. Give the dress a patchwork of dots, checks and tiny flowers.
• Nesting dolls. Traditional ones wear a headscarf and an apron painted with flowers, often in red, yellow, green and black. Color the largest doll, then repeat the same scheme on each smaller one.
• Kokeshi dolls. Keep the head plain and put the color in the body: a few bands and a simple flower design in red and black.
• Paper dolls. Color the outfits before you cut. Leave the tabs white.

Skin, hair and eyes can be any shade. Color the doll to look like you, like a friend or like nobody in particular.

For a dollhouse page, choose a wall color for each room first. Then do the furniture, and save the tiny things for last.