The rabbit
The rabbit: a free printable coloring page, from age 2. Two long upright ears, a pompom tail and a spiral horn planted on the forehead.
- Recommended age
- Ages 2 and up · 10 to 15 minutes
- Theme
- Animals
- Season
- Spring
Sitting, eyes closed
The rabbit sits up straight, face on, and has closed its eyes: two smiling arcs, each underlined with three lashes. Its ears rise almost to the edge of the sheet, with a second contour inside that leaves a band to color separately. Between them, a spiral horn stands up, marked with four rings. The front paws meet in front of the belly, striped with small lines for the toes. The back feet are flat, as wide as slippers. On the right, a pompom tail sticks out from the body.
An animal children have often held
The rabbit is one of the few wild animals many children have actually held in their arms, at a neighbor’s, at a petting farm or in a classroom. They know it is warm, that it trembles a little, and that it will not stay put. What they remember first are the ears: they move constantly, turn toward a sound, lie flat when it is frightened. The rest of the time the rabbit eats — nearly all day — and bolts away in leaps as soon as you come too close too fast.
One single large mass to fill
The rabbit’s body forms one large oval mass, with no internal division: a two-year-old can fill it back and forth, without ever having to change direction. The ears, the paws and the pompom are wide, rounded, and spaced apart from one another — there are no two small areas stuck side by side that would force anyone to aim. Only the lashes and the toe lines are fine, and they color perfectly well by going over them. The page still works even when everything is done in a single color.
White is a color
Many children want a white rabbit, and they are right: most pet rabbits are. Suggest leaving the body white and coloring only the inside of the ears in pale pink, the pompom in light gray and the background in one plain color around the animal. It is the simplest way to get a white rabbit without leaving a blank page. A colored pencil pressed very lightly works better than a marker for those shades — markers have no half-tones.
A word for the grown-up: ask your child why the rabbit has its eyes closed. They answer whatever they like — it is asleep, dreaming, pretending — and that answer often decides the colors they choose next.
Coloring pages that go with this one
More pages from the same theme, age or season — the ones you print right after.
