15 Crafts You Can Make From a Coloring Page

What do you do with a stack of finished coloring pages? Turn them into something new. Each of these crafts gives a coloring page a second life as a toy, a gift or a decoration, and along the way children practise cutting, gluing, planning and storytelling. Most take 15–30 minutes and need only scissors, glue and tape.

Before you start

• Print on thicker paper (around 120–160 gsm) for anything that needs to stand up or last. Card stock is even better.
• Choose the right page. Big, bold pictures from our Big & Simple collection are easiest to cut out. Detailed mandalas make beautiful framed art.
• Color first, cut second. It's much easier to color a flat page than a cut-out shape.
• Keep a craft box with scissors, glue sticks, tape, string, lolly sticks and paper plates.

Play things

1. Stick puppets. Cut out an animal, tape it to a lolly stick and put on a show behind the sofa. Make a whole cast from our Best Friends pages, which come with two characters on each page.
2. Jigsaw puzzle. Glue a colored page to cardboard, draw puzzle lines on the back, and cut along them. Start with 6 big pieces for little ones and 20 or more for older kids. (Or try our digital picture puzzle.)
3. Masks. Cut eye holes in a big animal face and add elastic or a stick. Paper plates make a sturdy backing.
4. Finger puppets. Cut out small characters and tape a paper ring to the back to fit a finger.
5. Memory cards. Color two copies of the same small pictures and cut them into matching cards. Play memory, snap or go fish. (Or play our online memory game.)
6. Paper dolls and dress-up. Cut out a character and draw paper clothes with tabs to fold over.

Useful things

1. Bookmarks. Cut a long strip around a character and laminate it with clear sticky-back plastic. Add a ribbon tassel through a punched hole.
2. Fridge magnets. Glue small cut-outs to magnetic sheet or a flat magnet.
3. Placemats. Cover a whole colored page in clear contact paper. They wipe clean after meals.
4. Notebook covers. Glue a colored page to the front of a plain notebook.
5. Door hangers. Cut a page to a door-hanger shape with a circle for the handle and write "Do not disturb" or "Artist at work."
6. Name banners. Color one alphabet page for each letter of your child's name and string them up.

Gifts

1. Greeting cards. Use our ready-made fold-in-half cards for birthdays, thank yous and holidays. See homemade cards for more ideas.
2. Framed art. A colored mandala or a detailed scene in a cheap frame makes a proud gift for grandparents.
3. Gift wrap. Color several pattern pages and tape them together to wrap a small present.
4. Gift tags. Print a page at 25% size, four to a sheet, and cut out tiny pictures for tags.

Big projects

1. Collage. Cut out favorite pieces from several pages and arrange them into a brand-new scene.
2. Story book. Staple five pages together and write a sentence under each one to tell a story. This is a great way to practise sentence building.
3. Shoebox diorama. Cut out sea creatures, dinosaurs or space objects and hang them inside a shoebox on thread. See ocean crafts for an example.
4. Window display. Use the oil trick: rub a little cooking oil on the back of a marker-colored page so it glows in the window like stained glass.

Crafts by age

• Ages 3–4: focus on coloring and sticking. A grown-up does most of the cutting. Masks, placemats and simple stick puppets work well.
• Ages 5–7: cutting along thick outlines, puppets, bookmarks and cards. Our cutting practice sheets are a good warm-up.
• Ages 8+: puzzles with many pieces, dioramas, story books and detailed framed art.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Cutting too close to the line. Leave a small white border; it's easier and looks neater.
• Using too much glue. A glue stick is less messy than liquid glue for paper.
• Making it all at once. Bigger projects work best over two or three short sessions.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best way to make paper crafts last?

Print on card stock, cover with clear contact paper, or glue the page onto cardboard from a cereal box.

How can I help a child who finds cutting hard?

Start with straight lines and thick shapes, show the "thumbs up" scissor grip, and turn the paper rather than the scissors. Our fine motor skills guide has more tips.

Can these crafts be used in class?

Yes. Puppets, story books and dioramas work well for literacy and science lessons, and cards are great for celebrations.

Which pages are best for crafts?

Bold pages with thick outlines are easiest to cut out and decorate.