Eight full-page illustrations per pack, line-drawn from real biology. The shapes are familiar from the matching game and contrast cards, so coloring becomes a quiet way to keep noticing.
Coloring is one of the oldest activities children do, and for good reason. It builds fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, and the patience to stay with one thing for more than a minute. The act of choosing a color, picking up the crayon, staying inside (or outside) the lines, every part of it is doing work.
Lupe's coloring sheets give that work something to be about. The images aren't generic shapes or cartoon characters: they're a mitochondrion, a neuron, a stretch of DNA. Children don't have to know that yet. They're just coloring an interesting shape. But when they see the same shape again in a book or a doctor's office or their own school years later, the pattern is already there.
The matching game uses the same illustrations, fully colored. Coloring sheets are the line-art version. Side by side, your child sees one shape in two states. They're allowed to color it any way they want, the matching cards show one possibility, theirs is another.
Cell, nucleus, mitochondria, ER, Golgi, vesicles, lysosome, centriole.
Neuron, blood, lung, muscle, white blood cell, skin, bone, intestinal cell.
Interphase, prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, cytokinesis, daughter cells.
Brain, heart, lungs, intestine, liver, kidneys, skin, bone.
From inheritance to protein, the chain that makes us who we are.
Free for personal use and classroom or childcare use. Please don't resell or redistribute commercially. If you're a teacher or childcare provider, you're warmly welcome to print and use these with your kids.
Hand your child crayons or washable markers and a sheet. Don't worry about staying inside the lines or matching the “real” colors. The point is the doing, not the result.
Sit nearby and name what they're working on. “That's a mitochondrion. There's one of those in every cell of your body, helping you breathe.”
Browse Lupe's other printable activities, designed to grow alongside your child.