People Coloring Pages

• Blank person outline: a standing figure with no face or clothes, ready for an all-about-me project
• Kids: children jumping rope, waving hello and carrying backpacks
• Grown-ups at work: a mail carrier, a chef, a farmer, a bus driver, a dentist and a builder with their tools
• Grandparents and elders: a grandfather feeding birds from a bench and a grandmother knitting in an armchair
• Groups and crowds: a street fair, a line at the bus stop and a park on a sunny afternoon
• People around the world: everyday clothing from different countries, drawn from real garments
• Athletes of all abilities: a wheelchair basketball player lining up a shot

The blank person outline is the page teachers print most. Here are four ways to use it.

• All about me. Each child colors the figure to look like themselves, then writes their name, age and favorite things around it. Hang them together for a class portrait.
• Body parts vocabulary. Label head, shoulders, arms, elbows, hands, legs, knees and feet. It works well in preschool and with English language learners.
• Dress for the weather. Draw a raincoat, a sun hat or a winter coat on the figure and talk about why you'd wear it.
• Community helpers. Pair the worker pages with a short talk about what each person does and which tools they carry.

When kids color people, put skin-tone crayons or pencils on the table. A box with a wide range of browns, tans and pinks lets every child find a match.

Coloring a figure teaches proportion without a lesson. Kids notice that fingertips reach about halfway down the thigh and that eyes sit near the middle of the head, not the top. After a few pages, ask them to draw a person of their own on the back of the sheet.