Friendship Coloring Pages

• Best friends: two kids on a seesaw, sharing headphones and trading high fives
• Acts of kindness: helping a friend who fell, sharing lunch and inviting the new kid to play
• Animal pals: a cat and a dog under one blanket, a bear with a bird and a mouse riding on an elephant
• Two-part pages: a design split down the middle, such as two halves of a heart or two puzzle pieces, one for each friend
• Bracelets and notes: woven friendship bracelets and a blank card that says "To my friend"
• Group fun: a tree house club, a pillow fight and four friends in a wagon

Teachers and school counselors use friendship coloring sheets to start conversations that are hard to begin cold.

What does a good friend do? Hand out a kindness page and ask kids to describe what's happening in the picture. Then ask when someone did that for them. Write the answers on the board: shares, listens, takes turns, says sorry.

Color and swap. Print a two-part page. Each child colors one half, then gives it to a classmate. It's a low-pressure way to pair kids who don't usually play together.

New kid welcome. Have the class color one page each and sign the back. The stack becomes a welcome packet.

Friendship days. The United Nations marks the International Day of Friendship on July 30. In schools, Valentine's Day and the last week before summer break are also popular times to give a colored page to a friend.

For a keepsake, color a page for a best friend, write one thing you like about them on the back and add the date.