Trace and Color the Picture: A Picnic Under the Tree

A picnic blanket lies on the grass under a big leafy tree. On the blanket there is a banana, a cup, a pear and a lemon, and a little bird stands between the tree and the sun. A cloud drifts across the sky. Everything on the page is dashed except the sun's rays and the grass tufts, and every shape is closed, so once it has been traced it becomes a space ready to color in. There are no numbers and no color codes: the child chooses the colors.

This page practices two different kinds of control in one sitting. First the child traces, keeping the crayon on the line. Then the child colors, keeping the crayon inside the line. The big, calm shapes of the fruit and the blanket make the second step manageable, and the closed outlines give every color a clear edge to stop at. Finishing a page you have both drawn and colored is satisfying, and it turns tracing practice into a picture a child is proud to take home or hang on the wall.

This printable PDF suits kindergarten and the end of preschool. If you want coloring with a rule, the shape rocket page asks for every circle to be colored; on this picnic page the child chooses every color. For more practice with closed shapes, try the Christmas page with its many baubles. Picture tracing follows the outline of whole pictures; abstract line practice, step-by-step drawing and numbered dot-to-dot have their own pages.