How to Make Your Own Coloring Page With Your Child (From a Drawing or a Photo)

To make your own coloring page, trace the main shapes of a photo or a drawing onto plain paper with a dark pencil, go over the lines with a thick black pen, close every shape, and leave out tiny details. Then copy or scan it so it can be colored again and again. Children love coloring their own house, pet or favorite toy, and making the page is half the fun.

Below: two ways to do it (from a photo, or from your child's drawing), the rules that make a page good to color, and ideas to try.

Way 1: from a photo

1. Print the photo in black and white, roughly the size you want the page.
2. Tape it to a bright window with a sheet of plain paper on top (or use a light box).
3. Trace only the main outlines in pencil: the shape of the cat, the door, the tree. Skip fur, shadows and tiny leaves.
4. Go over the lines with a thick black marker or pen.
5. Close every shape so each area can be colored on its own.

Way 2: from your child's drawing

1. Ask your child to draw in pencil: a dream house, a monster, their family.
2. Together, go over the lines they want to keep with a thick black pen.
3. Rub out the pencil when the ink is dry.
4. Copy or scan it, and they have their own coloring page to share with friends or siblings.
5. If they'd rather start from a character they love, that's fine too: copying pictures is a normal way to learn.

What makes a page good to color

• Bold lines: thick enough to see easily and to color up to.
• Closed shapes: no gaps, so color stays where it belongs.
• Big areas as well as a few small ones.
• No gray or shading: leave all the color decisions to the person coloring.

These are the same rules every Meowelo page follows. Our guide to choosing a coloring book explains why they matter.

Ideas children love

Copy it, print it, share it

Scan or photograph the finished outline in good light, increase the contrast so the lines are solid black and the paper pure white, and print copies. Our guide to printing coloring pages covers paper and settings. A home-made page also makes a lovely gift for a grandparent to color too.

Want ready-made pages too?

The Meowelo free printables are drawn with the same bold, closed lines, each with a short story moment to read first. Not sure whether loose pages or a book suits your child better? See printables vs coloring books.

Free printable · 2 pages

Pico and the First Tree

Pico discovers the little doorway between a great tree's roots.

Print it free →

Common mistakes and quick fixes

A family coloring book

Make one page a week (the house, the pet, the garden, each family member drawn by the child) and in a few months you have a whole family coloring book. Staple the copies together with a cover your child designs, and it becomes a gift grandparents treasure. Our guide to coloring with grandparents has ideas for sharing pages across homes.

Ideas for older children

Older children can draw directly in pen, design a page for a younger sibling, or make a themed set of four pages for a party or a classroom.

Making pages for someone else is a lovely motivation: a younger sibling's favorite animal, a grandparent's garden, or a set of pages for a party. Children take more care with the lines when they know someone else will color them, and they're proud to see their page colored by another person. It's also a gentle way to practice drawing clearly and simply, which is a real design skill.

The one thing to remember

A coloring page is just bold lines around big shapes. Trace the shapes that matter to your child, close them up, and let them color their own world.