Dolphin Coloring Pages

Dolphins always seem to be smiling, and they spend a surprising amount of time simply playing. These dolphin coloring pages catch them at it: leaping over waves, balancing a beach ball, blowing bubble rings and making friends with everything in the sea.

The leaping pages come first, because that is what everyone hopes to see from a boat: a dolphin sailing over a curling wave, one leaping at sunset, one splashing out of the water, one jumping through a ring of water, one leaping beside a sailboat, one by a little palm tree island and one near a buoy with a seagull on top. A mother dolphin leaps through a wave with her calf, another swims with a baby dolphin, and two dolphins touch noses to make the shape of a heart. Underwater, dolphins glide over a coral reef, through a kelp forest, past a school of fish and among jellyfish, dive toward a treasure chest, play with a strand of seaweed and blow a perfect bubble ring.

Sea friends keep them company: a sea turtle, a seal, a whale, a smiling starfish, a little duckling and an open shell holding a pearl. There are quiet moments too, a dolphin peeking out of the sea under the sun, one surfacing near a lighthouse and one swimming under a crescent moon, plus a playful dolphin balancing a beach ball on its nose. The holidays bring a dolphin carving a jack o'lantern, one trick-or-treating in a witch hat, one hanging a star on a Christmas tree, one in a Santa hat with a present, one building a snowman in a scarf, one carrying an Easter basket, one holding a heart balloon and one leaping beside a birthday cake.

Amazing dolphin facts

• Dolphins are mammals, not fish: they breathe air through a blowhole on top of the head and feed their calves milk.
• They sleep with half of their brain at a time, so they can keep swimming and come up to breathe.
• Each dolphin has its own signature whistle, a sound that works a bit like a name.
• Dolphins live in groups called pods and often hunt and play together.
• They find food using echolocation, sending out clicks and listening for the echoes.
• A dolphin calf stays close to its mother for several years.

What color is a dolphin?

• Blue-gray on the back, fading to pale gray or white on the belly, for a bottlenose dolphin.
• Pink for the river dolphins of the Amazon, a lovely surprise for children.
• Black and white for an orca, which is actually the largest member of the dolphin family.

The sea can go from turquoise in the shallows to deep blue in open water, with an orange and pink sky on the sunset page.

Friendly dolphins and ocean scenes

The simplest pages show one dolphin, drawn large. Quick to color, above the grid, begins with:

• Beach ball
• Wave leap
• Lily pad

The reef, the kelp forest and the jellyfish pages are full of detail. Lots of detail begins with:

Dolphins for school and parties

Dolphin pages fit an ocean or mammals unit: color a leaping dolphin, then talk about blowholes, pods and echolocation, and compare the dolphin with the whale and the shark. They also make cheerful place mats for a beach or under-the-sea birthday, with the birthday cake page for the guest of honor.

Printing

Every page is a free A4 PDF drawn at 300 dpi. A4 prints at full size, and on US Letter "fit to page" shrinks the drawing by about six percent so nothing is cut off. The printing guide shows the setting. Add to pack prints a whole pod at once. More sea life is in the whale coloring pages, the octopus coloring pages, the ocean coloring pages and the shark coloring pages.