Free Printable Coloring Mini Books for Children

Educator Jonathon Holt says children learn best when they are actively involved. Here are free printable mini booklets for children to color. Subject include letters, words, seasons, animals, science, Bible, holidays and lots more. These books make excellent classroom, homeschoool and supplemental lessons for ages 4-7 years (grades preschool through second). These free printable activities are especially good for special needs children.

To print these booklets, visit DLTK-Teach (click here). This page lists all the free printable book themes available. There are a series of 26 alphabet mini books: one for each letter. They are titled "What begins with the Letter (A, B, C, etc.)?" Words are shown in one color and the letter being explored shows as a different color. If you print in black and white, the letter will appear in a different shade of gray. Ask the child to color the letter a different color than the other words to emphasize it. There are also suggested activities to teach each letter using the printable mini books.

Other subjects include Biblical themes: Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, Creation, Life of Jesus and Men of the Bible. There is a series called "All About Me," in which the child personalizes to book to himself. There are booklets about "My family," too. These work well for early social studies and health classes.

There are several science-themed printable booklets, too. Subjects include: birds, farm life, nutrition and vehicles. Use the free printable seasons booklets for science, too. "Fall" explores leaves and trees; "Winter" covers water and ice: "Spring" looks at new life and seeds and "Summer" covers plant growth.

Seasonal topics include: Halloween (gentle, non-scary images of pumpkins), Veteran's Day, (patriotic), Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, St. Patrick's Day and Earth Day. These work well as Social Studies lessons for young children. Each booklet weaves in reading skills and some basic counting activities.

Each booklet is 10 pages long. Pages print half-sheet (two pages on each printed page). Each page can be printed in color or black and white. If you print the booklet in black and white, the child can color each page. This extra exposure will help to reinforce the concept begin taught. As she colors, you may ask her to repeat the words printed on the page.

Some of the books are available for Spanish speaking children also. I like these kinds of classroom activities because they multitask. As children cut and paste, they learn eye-hand coordination. Coloring helps build fine motor skills. As they make their books, they learn to read and follow directions. Assembling the booklets is good for sequencing and organization. There's lots of learning going on when children make these free printable books.