Mermaid Coloring Pages

Looking for mermaid coloring pages a child can finish before dinner? This collection is free to print, and every mermaid is drawn large, with long wavy hair, a scaly tail and thick outlines that small hands can follow.

Inside the collection:

• Mermaids at sea, combing their hair on a rock, waving to a crab, blowing a conch shell or exploring an underwater cave with a lantern.
• Lettering pages that spell out MERMAID, I LOVE MERMAID, BE KIND and SWEET DREAMS.
• Holiday mermaids for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and birthdays.
• Mermaids on dry land, riding a scooter, going down a slide or chasing butterflies with a net.
• Palace and treasure scenes, with a seashell castle, a harp and a chest on the sea floor.

Where the little mermaid story comes from

Sailors told stories of half-fish women for thousands of years, but the mermaid most kids know comes from one book. Hans Christian Andersen published The Little Mermaid in 1837, the tale of a young sea princess who trades her voice for a pair of legs. His version ends sadly, which surprises children who only know the happy films.

A bronze statue of Andersen's mermaid has sat on a rock in the harbor of Copenhagen since 1913. It is small, about the size of a person, and visitors are often surprised by how quiet it looks.

The real animals behind the legend

In January 1493, Christopher Columbus wrote in his log that he had seen three mermaids rising from the sea near Hispaniola, and that they were "not as pretty as they are painted." He had almost certainly seen manatees. Manatees and dugongs belong to a group of animals called Sirenia, named after the sirens of Greek myth. The whale coloring pages and dolphin coloring pages show other sea mammals that come up to breathe the same way.

Little mermaid coloring pages for every holiday

Many of these pages carry a greeting in hollow bubble letters, which turns a colored sheet into a card.

• Halloween: a mermaid in a witch hat sitting on a jack-o'-lantern under HAPPY HALLOWEEN, another in a ghost costume with a candy bucket, and one carving a pumpkin on the sand. The Halloween coloring pages and pumpkin coloring pages keep the season going.
• Fall and Thanksgiving: a mermaid reaching for a branch as the leaves drop, and THANKFUL with a pumpkin pie and a pilgrim hat, next to the Thanksgiving coloring pages.
• Christmas: MERRY CHRISTMAS with a present, a reindeer antler headband by a tree, a star going on top of the tree, and a snowman built out of sand on the sea floor. Trees, stockings and Santa fill the Christmas coloring pages.
• Easter: a mermaid holding a basket of decorated eggs, a good companion to the Easter coloring pages.
• Birthdays and Valentine's Day: HAPPY BIRTHDAY beside a cake, a mermaid blowing out her candles, I LOVE MERMAID with a big heart and a heart-shaped balloon. More cakes and party hats wait among the happy birthday coloring pages.

For a card, color the letters in a shade the mermaid does not wear. Orange stands out next to a teal tail, red next to a purple one.

Mermaid tail coloring: scales, fins and hair

A mermaid has no fixed colors, which is half the fun. Still, a few choices make the tail look like it belongs underwater:

• Tail: teal, sea green, turquoise or violet. Two shades of the same color read better than five different ones.
• Fins: a lighter version of the tail color, or a soft pink.
• Hair: red, golden yellow, lilac or deep blue. Long hair gives room for streaks.
• Top: shells, flowers or a band of color that matches the fins.
• Skin: a light peach or tan, kept soft so the tail stays the bright part.

Making the scales shimmer

1. Color every scale with one light shade first.
2. Add a darker shade on the lower edge of each scale, like a little shadow.
3. Leave a thin white line near the top of a few scales. It reads as light on wet skin.

With colored pencils, press lightly near the waist and harder toward the fins, so the tail seems to get darker as it goes deeper. With markers, work fast while the ink is still wet and the two shades blend at the edges.

Mermaids under the sea and out of the water

Most scenes stay close to home. One mermaid sits among seaweed, another waves to a crab, a third blows into a big conch shell. Three mermaid friends share the same rock. Kids who want more life around them can add creatures from the ocean coloring pages and fish coloring pages, or a curious octopus from the octopus coloring pages.

Deeper down, a mermaid opens a treasure chest on the sea floor, and another holds a lantern in an underwater cave while a striped fish swims past. The treasure hunt pairs well with the pirate coloring pages.

A mermaid princess at home

A few sheets show the palace side of the story: a castle whose towers are spiral seashells, a mermaid hanging seashell garlands under a chandelier, and one playing a harp between two columns. Fans of crowns and gowns will find more in the princess coloring pages and the castle coloring pages.

Then there are the silly ones, where the mermaid has somehow left the sea. She rides a kick scooter, slides down a playground slide with her arms up, swings a butterfly net in tall grass and holds a big donut covered in sprinkles.

Simple mermaid coloring pages for preschoolers, busy sea scenes for older kids

Preschoolers do well with the big portrait, the mermaid asleep on a cloud and the ones sitting alone on a rock: one figure, a tail with wide scales, almost no background. Press Quick to color to see those simple mermaids first:

• Mermaid blowing a conch shell
• Mermaid reaching for the stars
• Mermaid with a heart balloon

Older kids tend to pick the seashell castle, the palace room with its garlands and the mermaid caught in a fishing net, where the background fills the page. The Lots of detail button opens on them:

• Seashell castle under the sea
• Mermaid with a fishing net
• Mermaid with a butterfly net

If a big scene stalls halfway, a lettering page is a good switch. Each letter takes one color and the page looks finished fast.

An under-the-sea party with mermaid pages

Planning a mermaid birthday party? Print the birthday cake page, a few rock and cave scenes and the three friends on a rock, then set out teals, purples and a gold pencil for crowns and treasure. Each guest colors a mermaid and names her on the back.

In a classroom, the sea pages fit a unit on oceans. Children color a mermaid, then add one real sea animal next to her and write its name. Those who prefer horns to tails can switch to the unicorn coloring pages or the tiny wings of the fairy coloring pages.

Printing tips for mermaid sheets

Kids often color the cave and castle backgrounds in dark blue, which takes a while, so a fresh marker helps. Each page is a free A4 PDF at 300 dpi. On A4 it prints full size; US Letter needs fit to page, or the tip of the tail can get clipped. Add to pack under a drawing gathers a party stack into one PDF, and the printing guide walks through the settings.