Things that go coloring pages for toddlers

Wheels, buckets and wings

Things that move often catch a young child's eye. A bus pulls up, a digger lifts its bucket, a plane crosses the sky, and many children want to stop and watch. Coloring one at home is a way to keep talking about what they saw.

Three topics sort the moving world into easy groups. Vehicles has the trucks and trains children see on roads and rails. Construction brings in the big machines from the building site. Things that fly looks up, to the sky. Across all three, the outlines are thick, the parts are big and there's very little in the background.

Pages marked Very simple show one vehicle and little else, which suits most 2- and 3-year-olds. Pages marked Simple add a few parts, such as windows, lights or a ladder, for children of 4 and 5.

Ideas while you color

• Beep, rumble, whoosh

  Give each machine its own sound and make it every time you pick up a new crayon.

• Road, site or sky?

  Ask where this one goes: on the road, at the building site or up in the sky. Then draw a road, a pile of sand or a cloud to match.

• Spot the real thing

  On your next walk, look for something like the page you colored: a real truck, or a plane high overhead.

• Line up a fleet

  Print one page from each topic and line them up: something that drives, something that digs and something that flies. Older children can draw a road that joins them.