Christmas Coloring Activities for Kids

Turn a Christmas coloring page into a color-pattern activity, a short picture story or a personalized page to take home. Choose one activity first, then print the pages it needs. The examples below use existing CrayPrint drawings and show how to set up the activity before coloring.

Children can choose their own colors and story details. Use the worked story as a starting point, then invite them to invent their own ending.

Set up the materials

You need crayons or colored pencils, printer paper and a clear drawing surface. For the picture story, prepare an elf-with-a-gift page and a candy-cane page. For the name activity, prepare a page with each child's name. The activities do not require cutting or folding.

Browse Christmas coloring pages and select the drawings you want. Open a picture's viewer and use Print for that picture. Check one copy before preparing the rest of the set. For paper size and scaling, read the A4 and US Letter printing guide.

Make a candy-cane color pattern

Use the drawing of two candy canes tied with a bow. Let children pick two colors; they do not have to use the traditional red and white. If they choose white, they can leave that part of the paper uncolored.

1. Start at the curved end of one candy cane.
2. Color the first outlined section with the first color.
3. Use the second color for the next section.
4. Continue alternating until the cane reaches the bow.
5. Start the pattern again on the other cane.
6. Choose a separate color for the bow and leaves.

For example, the sections can go red, white, red, white. Ask which color would come next at one visible section boundary. If the pattern changes, children can explain their new rule or continue with their original two colors. The drawing has outlines, not printed numbers or a color key.

Tell a two-picture story

Put the elf page on the left and the candy-cane page on the right. Use the pictures as story prompts; the second picture does not have to be a literal view inside the box.

1. Ask what the elf is holding.
2. Invite the child to imagine who the gift is for.
3. Point to the second picture and ask what could be inside the gift.
4. Say a sentence for each picture, in order.
5. Color the two pages and retell the story.

1. The elf brings a gift.

2. What could be inside?

A child can tell the story aloud, point to the pictures, or ask an adult to write down their words on a separate sheet. The sample ending is only a demonstration. The gift could go to a friend, another elf or a character the child invents. For a longer story, add a blank sheet and draw what happens next.

You can find more characters in the elf coloring pages collection. Keep the number of pictures small enough that the child can arrange them comfortably on the table.

Make a Christmas name page

Make the Noah Christmas example. The generator opens with Noah, Comic letters and Christmas decorations selected. This is a separate name coloring page, not a name added to the elf drawing.

1. Replace Noah with the child's name.
2. Keep Christmas selected under Decorations.
3. Choose US Letter or A4 to match your paper.
4. Check the name and picture in the preview.
5. Select Download PDF, then print the saved page.
6. Let the child color the letters and decorations for a page to take home.

The generator accepts up to 12 A–Z letters. If a name needs an unsupported character, write the correct name on a separate sheet rather than changing its spelling. Printing and the name generator do not need an account. For a group, the classroom name activities guide explains how to prepare a class-list PDF.

Share the finished pages

Invite each child to show a pattern, tell their two-sentence story or point to a letter in their name. They can also keep their work private and take it home. A small display can combine the different activities without requiring everyone to produce the same page.

For a group that prefers a general seasonal theme, browse winter coloring pages instead. The same picture-story idea works with different drawings, but choose a pair that gives the children something concrete to describe.

Use the pages at home, in a classroom or in a library under the terms of service. Find another project in the coloring guides and activities, or return to Christmas coloring pages for the next drawing.