Giraffe Coloring Pages

A giraffe is half neck, and that is exactly what makes it such a good animal to color: one long shape that runs from the bottom of the page to the top, covered in patches that each want their own shade. These giraffe coloring pages keep the animal busy rather than posed. One stretches into an acacia for the highest leaves, one spreads its front legs wide to drink, one peers over a garden wall at somebody's breakfast, and one has a row of little birds sitting along its back.

The drawings are original, made for this site, and free to print at home, in class or for a party.

Savanna days, from the waterhole to the baobab

Most of the giraffes live where real giraffes live. A calf stands on wobbly legs beside its mother on open grassland, two adults cross their necks under a flat-topped acacia while the sun goes down, and a single giraffe walks past two zebras. Another stands in shallow water with its reflection stretching underneath, another walks a dusty track under a flock of birds, and a herd of five crosses the plain at different distances, which makes a good lesson in near and far.

Smaller neighbors share the pages. A calf nuzzles a warthog and her piglets beside a tall termite mound, a giraffe stands among the hanging nests of weaver birds, and another leans against the huge trunk of a baobab. Closer to people, a keeper on a ladder holds up a wheelbarrow of leaves, children watch from a walkway as a giraffe eats from a tall feeding platform, and one giraffe waits beside a windmill pump on a dry farm.

Holiday giraffes for the whole calendar

A giraffe in costume is funny before anyone colors it, which makes these pages easy to hand out. In October, one giraffe wears a witch hat and carries a jack-o-lantern bucket of candy, and another carves a pumpkin of its own. In December, a giraffe hangs an ornament on a Christmas tree, a baby giraffe in a Santa hat sits beside a present, and a giraffe in a scarf keeps a snowman company. There is a giraffe hugging a heart balloon for Valentine's Day, one beside a basket of decorated eggs for Easter, and a baby giraffe in a party hat blowing out the candles on a birthday cake, which is the page to print for a giraffe-themed party.

Why no two giraffes look the same

The patches on a giraffe work like a fingerprint: no two animals have the same pattern, and the pattern does not change as the giraffe grows. That means a child can invent a coat from scratch and still be right. A few more true facts make good conversation while the colors go in:

• The giraffe is the tallest land animal, up to about 18 feet, and almost all of the extra height is legs and neck.
• That long neck holds seven bones, the same number as a human neck. Each one is simply much longer.
• The two horn-like knobs on the head are called ossicones. They are covered in skin and hair, which is why they look soft in the drawings.
• A giraffe's tongue is long and dark blue-black, and it uses it to strip leaves from thorny acacia branches.
• To drink, a giraffe has to spread its front legs wide or bend them, exactly like the giraffe at the waterhole. It is the one moment it is easy to catch by surprise, so giraffes drink quickly and in turns.
• A calf drops about six feet to the ground when it is born and is usually standing within an hour.

Coloring a giraffe coat without losing patience

Coloring every patch one by one is slow, and the result often looks spotty rather than like fur. A faster method works better. First color the whole giraffe in a pale cream or light tan, lines and patches together. Then go back over the patches with a warm orange-brown, pressing a little harder toward the middle of each one so the edges stay lighter. The pale lines between the patches are already done.

For the darker look of a reticulated giraffe, use a deep chestnut on the patches and leave the lines almost white. For a softer, older animal, a mid brown on a creamy base is enough. The mane along the back of the neck takes a darker brown, the hooves and the tip of the tail are close to black, and the ossicones are tan with a dark tuft on top. Leave a tiny white dot in each eye.

Some pages have big shapes and very little background, which suits a young child with chunky crayons. The quickest start with the close-up portraits.

• A giraffe portrait
• A giraffe face up close
• A giraffe filled with acacia trees

Others fill the page with a farm, a walkway or a field of daisies, and those keep an older child or an adult busy for a long afternoon.

• A giraffe with an Easter basket
• A baby giraffe among daisies
• A giraffe fed by a keeper on a ladder

A height chart, a party and a classroom savanna

A giraffe asks to be measured against. Print two or three giraffe pages, color them, and tape them end to end on a door frame as a growth chart, marking each birthday beside the neck. For a party, the birthday giraffe makes a card, and the baby giraffes among daisies or in a Santa hat make good table cards with a name written in a speech bubble.

In class, the savanna pages build a frieze: color the giraffes, cut them out and stand them beside the animals of the zoo coloring pages, with an elephant at the waterhole. It is an easy way into a lesson on food chains or on why a giraffe needs such a long neck.

Printing your giraffes

Every page is a free A4 PDF drawn at 300 dpi. On A4, print at actual size; on US Letter, choose "fit to page", which makes the drawing about six percent smaller without cutting off the top of a tall neck. The printing guide shows the setting on each system. Add to pack collects several giraffes, or a whole herd from different collections, into one file. For more of the savanna, the lion coloring pages and the animal coloring pages carry on where these stop.