Plain paper, for pencils
For colored pencils or wax crayons, standard printer paper (80 gsm) does the job very well. It doesn’t buckle, it costs almost nothing, and you can print ten sheets without thinking twice — which matters, because a 2-year-old often wants to start the same page over.
Markers go through, almost always
With markers, the ink reaches the back of the sheet and marks the table or the next page. Paper of 120 gsm settles it. Failing that, slip a second sheet under the one your child is coloring: it costs nothing, and it is enough.
For paint, 160 gsm
Poster paint, watercolor, watercolor pencils: 160 gsm at the very least, otherwise the sheet warps as it dries and the drawing folds. The pages with large pale areas are the ones that suit it best.
The print setting
Print on A4 at 100% scale, without “fit to page”. Leave the orientation the page suggests: it follows the drawing, portrait or landscape depending on the sheet. Our pages already come out with a white margin all around, and one more adjustment would only shrink the drawing.
