The funny spider
The funny spider: a free printable coloring page, from age 4. An all-round body, eyes with lashes, marked cheeks and a long twisted horn.
- Recommended age
- Ages 4 and up · 20 to 40 minutes
- Theme
- Little bugs
One single round body
Here there is no head separate from the belly: the whole spider fits into one large rounded drop, wider at the bottom than at the top. Two pointed ears come out of the crown, and between them a twisted horn rises very high, almost as long as the body. A curled lock falls over the forehead. The eyes are two large black ovals, edged with lashes and scattered with white glints; two pale ovals mark the cheeks. Eight thick legs go out from the sides: the upper ones lift above the body, the lower ones reach right to the bottom of the page.
What makes it funny
Three details do all the work, and they are worth naming out loud with the child: the eyes take up almost half the face, the cheeks are marked, and the body is a ball instead of being flat. Real spiders have eight small eyes and legs that fold underneath. This one keeps only two, wide open. Children spot the gap very quickly once it is pointed out, and they find it funny: that is exactly the effect the drawing is after.
Why from age 4
The body is huge and easy, but the finishing is not. The lashes are one-millimetre lines, the white glints in the eyes have to stay white for the gaze to shine, and the cheeks are two ovals to fill without biting around them. The legs are cut into segments by lines you can follow or ignore. All of that assumes a child willing to stop in the right place: at about 4, that is settled. Earlier, the eyes end up blacked in completely and the sheet loses its smile.
Leave the eyes alone
Do not color the eyes: they are already black, and the little white circles inside do all the work. For the cheeks, a very pale pink applied in circles, without pressing, with a colored pencil rather than a marker that cuts too hard. The body takes a dark shade, purple or midnight blue, because the outlines are thick and stay visible on top. The twisted horn, finally, gets every other band colored: the twist appears by itself, with nothing to draw.
A word for the grown-up: take this sheet and “The spider” out at the same time, and let your child say which one they find funnier. They compare two drawings of the same creature, they justify their choice, then they color the one they picked — often both, one after the other.
Coloring pages that go with this one
More pages from the same theme, age or season — the ones you print right after.
