The fancy hen
The fancy hen: a free printable coloring page, from age 4. A wing spread feather by feather, a scaled breast and a five-lobed comb.
- Recommended age
- Ages 4 and up · 20 to 40 minutes
- Season
- Spring
A wing made feather by feather
This one is like no other sheet in the theme. The hen is turned three-quarters on, one wing wide open to the left, and that wing is drawn feather by feather: a row of long points at the top, a second row of rounded feathers below, then a third, shorter one. The breast and belly are covered in a scale pattern, some twenty small arcs in rows. The comb is made of five round lobes, the third taller than the others, the eyes are enormous and edged with lashes, and the beak points to the right.
Three kinds of feather, and some skin
An adult hen carries three kinds of feather, and this drawing shows nearly all of them: the long wing feathers, which let it fly a few meters, the short body feathers, which keep it warm, and the down underneath, which you cannot see. The comb and the wattle, though, are not feathers but skin: they redden when the hen is hot, and that is how it cools down. Those are the questions asked in front of a hen drawn this close, and it answers them.
A wing of feathers, a belly of scales
There is twice as much to fill as on the round hen sheet, and the count does not tell the whole story: the feathers and scales add up by the dozen, and finer still. The wing feathers are less than a centimetre wide each, the belly scales smaller yet. The line separating them is thin, sometimes broken: a medium-tipped marker runs two feathers into one another in a single pass. It takes a well-sharpened pencil and a hand resting on the table. Nothing says it all has to be finished at once.
A gradient on the wing
The wing is the place to try a gradient. Choose three close shades — yellow, orange, light brown — and give one to each row of feathers, from the highest to the lowest. The result imitates the real wing of a red hen without asking anyone to mix anything. For the belly scales, one pale color is enough, or the page becomes unreadable. Print on 160 gsm paper if you have it: the pencil grips better and the gradient shows more.
A word for the grown-up: say in advance that the sheet will not be finished tonight. A child who knows they are allowed to stop halfway through the wing comes back to it the next day; one who believes they must finish it all gives up in the middle.
Coloring pages that go with this one
More pages from the same theme, age or season — the ones you print right after.
