Free printable collection
Back to School Coloring Pages
Fourteen printable coloring pages about the start of the school year: backpacks and pencil cases, a classroom before the desks fill up, the walk to school, the lunchbox, and the reading corner. The line work is deliberately open, with fewer small enclosed areas than a detailed page would have, because these are most often used in the first week when a class needs something calm that everyone can finish.
Printable Collection
Why coloring works in the first week
The opening days of a school year are mostly logistics: names, seats, routines, and rules. A coloring page is one of the few tasks a whole class can start immediately without instructions being repeated, and it gives a teacher a quiet stretch to work through a register or settle a child who is finding the morning hard. That is the job these pages are meant to do.
Using a page as a first-day icebreaker
The backpack and pencil case pages work well as a name activity: color the bag, then write your name on it and add the three things you would actually put inside. The lunchbox page does something similar around food. Both give a child something concrete to talk about, which is easier than being asked to introduce themselves to a room of strangers.
Choosing a page by age
The single-object pages, such as the backpack, the lunchbox, and the pencil case, have the largest areas and suit the youngest children. The classroom, school building, and reading corner scenes have more separate regions and hold the attention of a six to nine year old for longer. If you are printing for a mixed group, print a few of each rather than one page for everybody.
Displaying the finished pages
Finished pages make an easy first display. Because the pages share one drawing style, a wall of them reads as a set rather than a jumble, which is useful when the classroom is otherwise still bare. Mounting them on a single background color pulls the display together further.
Craft Ideas
- Color the backpack page, cut it out, and mount it on card as a name tag for a coat peg.
- Turn the lunchbox page into a healthy-eating task by drawing the food the child would choose.
- Use the school building page as the center of a class display and surround it with the finished portraits.
Classroom Ideas
- Print a set for the first morning as settling work while you take the register.
- Use the reading corner page to introduce classroom areas and their rules.
- Keep spare copies in an early-finisher tray for the first fortnight.
Printing Tips
- Print at 100% or Actual Size so the line weight stays even.
- Standard copier paper is fine for crayons and pencils; use heavier paper if the class is using markers.
- These are line art, so grayscale printing loses nothing.
- Print a few extra copies of the simplest pages for children who want to start again.
Frequently Asked Questions
What age are these back to school coloring pages for?
Most suit ages three to nine. The single-object pages work best for the youngest children and the full scenes hold older children longer.
Can I print these for my whole class?
Yes. They are free for classroom, homeschool, and personal use, and you can print as many copies as your group needs.
Is there any text on the pages?
No. The pages are deliberately free of words, including on signs and boards, so they work in any classroom and any language.
Can I print these on A4?
Yes. The PDFs are built for US Letter; choose Fit to Page in your print dialog for A4.