Jellyfish Coloring Pages

A jellyfish is almost nothing: a soft round bell and a curtain of tentacles drifting behind it. That is exactly what makes it such a good thing to color, because every tentacle is a ribbon waiting for its own shade. These jellyfish coloring pages swing between the graceful and the adorable, from realistic jellyfish trailing long lacy arms to round smiling ones with rosy cheeks.

The drifting pages come first: a jellyfish trailing long flowing tentacles among bubbles, one rising toward the sunlit surface, one glowing above the sandy sea floor with a starfish below, one with frilly ruffled arms, one with curling ribbon tentacles that spiral at the tips, and one with a bell full of mandala patterns for older colorists. A baby jellyfish swims beside its mother, two jellyfish dance in the open sea and a little group of five tiny jellyfish drifts along together.

Around them is the whole ocean: a coral reef with a crab, a kelp forest, a sunken ship with two treasure chests, a lighthouse on the shore, a rock to peek out from, a whirlpool and a sea floor scattered with shells. Friends come to visit: a sea turtle, a seahorse, a whale, a clownfish watching bubbles and a smiling starfish, and one kind jellyfish lights the way for a lost little fish. The funny pages turn it into an umbrella in the rain, put it in a glass jar with a cork, crown it with jewels, hand it a string of pearls and give it a heart-shaped bell.

The holidays are here as well. A jellyfish carves a jack o'lantern and goes trick-or-treating in a witch hat, decorates a Christmas tree in a striped scarf, wears a Santa hat with a present, gives a snowman its carrot nose, carries an Easter basket, hugs a heart balloon and blows out the candles on a birthday cake.

Amazing jellyfish facts

• Jellyfish have lived in the oceans for more than 500 million years, long before the dinosaurs.
• They have no brain, no heart and no bones. Their body is about 95 percent water.
• A jellyfish swims by squeezing its bell open and shut, like a slow umbrella.
• Many jellyfish glow in the dark, a light called bioluminescence.
• A group of jellyfish is called a smack or a bloom.
• Their tentacles can sting, so a jellyfish on the beach should only be looked at, never touched.

What color is a jellyfish?

Real jellyfish are often almost see-through, which leaves plenty of room for imagination:

• Pale blue, lilac and pink for the classic moon jellyfish.
• Orange and red for the lion's mane, the biggest jellyfish of all.
• Glowing neon colors on a dark blue or black background, to show bioluminescence in the deep sea.
• Rainbow tentacles, one color per ribbon, for the cute pages.

Watercolor pencils or a light marker wash look especially lovely on the bell, where a soft gradient makes it look transparent.

Cute jellyfish and detailed ones

The kawaii jellyfish, the heart bell and the jellyfish in the rain are simple and friendly for young children. Quick to color, above the grid, begins with:

• Jellyfish and a Seahorse
• Jellyfish Swimming Beside a Whale
• Heart-Shaped Jellyfish

The coral reef, the sunken ship, the kelp forest and the mandala bell are full of detail for older kids and adults. Lots of detail begins with:

• Jellyfish Carrying an Easter Basket
• Jellyfish Mandala
• Baby Jellyfish Following Its Mother

Ocean lessons and calm afternoons

Jellyfish pages fit an ocean unit at school: color the jellyfish, then talk about how an animal without a brain or a heart can still swim, hunt and glow. The whale, turtle and seahorse pages make it easy to compare sea creatures. And because the long tentacles are slow and repetitive to fill, the realistic pages make a calm, almost meditative activity for older children and adults at the end of the day.

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 every tentacle stays on the paper. The printing guide shows the setting. Add to pack prints a whole smack of jellyfish at once. More sea life is in the octopus coloring pages, the ocean coloring pages, the whale coloring pages and the dolphin coloring pages.