Nemo Coloring Pages

Just keep swimming, and keep coloring. The little clownfish from Finding Nemo swims through these Nemo coloring pages with his dad, Dory and the friends they meet on the reef, in big round drawings full of bubbles, coral and starfish, all free to print.

Under the sea you will find:

• Nemo in his sea anemone, blowing bubbles, asleep, swimming over a giant clam and a treasure chest.
• Nemo and Marlin, father and son, hugging in the anemone and swimming over the reef.
• Dory, alone among the bubbles, with Nemo, with a whale, with Pearl the octopus and with Bruce the shark.
• Crush and Squirt, the surfer sea turtles, plus Mr. Ray the school teacher.
• Holiday Nemo: a pumpkin, a Santa hat, an egg basket, a heart and a birthday cake.

Finding Nemo, the story under the sea

Finding Nemo was released by Pixar in 2003 and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Marlin, an anxious clownfish, lives with his son Nemo in a sea anemone on the Great Barrier Reef. On his first day of school, Nemo swims too far and is caught by a diver, who takes him to a fish tank in a dentist's office in Sydney.

Marlin crosses the ocean to find him, with Dory, a cheerful blue tang who forgets almost everything. Along the way they meet sharks who have sworn off fish, surfing sea turtles and a whale. The sequel, Finding Dory (2016), follows Dory as she searches for her own parents.

Nemo has one fin smaller than the other, his "lucky fin". Kids who know the film can look for it on these pages.

Real clownfish are just as surprising as the film. They live among the stinging tentacles of sea anemones, protected by a layer of mucus on their skin, and the anemone keeps them safe from bigger fish. In return, the clownfish cleans the anemone and chases away fish that would nibble it. Kids love hearing that the anemone on their page is a real animal, not a plant.

Pixar's artists took scuba diving lessons and studied real reefs and fish while making the film, which is why the coral, the anemones and the light filtering down from the surface look so real on screen.

Nemo and Marlin coloring pages

Nemo lives in a sea anemone, the soft, wavy home that protects clownfish. He swims out of it, sleeps inside it and hugs his dad Marlin there. Several pages show Nemo and Marlin swimming side by side over the reef, above a starfish and through the seaweed.

Marlin and Nemo, side by side

Marlin and Nemo look almost the same, which makes the pages where they swim together a little puzzle. Marlin is bigger and usually looks worried, with his eyebrows drawn together; Nemo is small, round and smiling, and has his lucky fin. Kids can color both the same and then point out who is who, or give Marlin a slightly darker orange so the father stands out from his son.

How to color a clownfish

• Body: bright orange.
• Stripes: three wide white bands, outlined with a thin black line.
• Fins: orange with a black edge.
• Eyes: big and dark, with a white shine.

Leave the white stripes uncolored and trace the thin black border with a fine pen, then fill the orange around them. Real clownfish look exactly like this, so the fish coloring pages are a fun next step.

Dory coloring pages

Dory is a blue tang: color her royal blue with a yellow tail and black markings along her back. She swims among bubbles, smiles by a tuft of seaweed, and meets a friendly whale, a nod to the moment she tries to "speak whale" in the film.

She also sits on a rock with Pearl, the little pink octopus from Nemo's class, and grins next to Bruce, the great white shark who repeats "Fish are friends, not food". More sharks swim in the shark coloring pages, and more octopuses in the octopus coloring pages.

Crush, Squirt, Mr. Ray and Gill

The sea turtles are a favorite. Nemo rides on the shell of Crush, the laid-back 150-year-old surfer turtle, and surfs a wave with his son Squirt. Another page shows three turtles swimming in the East Australian Current. Color their shells green and brown, with lighter flippers. Turtle fans will find more shells to color in the turtle coloring pages.

Nemo also rides on Mr. Ray, the singing spotted ray who teaches his class, next to the school bell. And he swims beside Gill, the scarred Moorish idol from the dentist's fish tank, who helps him plan his escape.

A seahorse, a school of little fish, a starfish and an open giant clam round out the reef. Kids who love the whole sea can explore the ocean coloring pages, the jellyfish coloring pages and the whale coloring pages.

Nemo celebrates under the sea

Nemo celebrates under the sea. He carves a jack o'lantern on the sea floor, a fishy twist on the Halloween coloring pages. In December he wears a Santa hat and holds a present, and swims above a little Christmas tree among the seaweed, ready for the Christmas coloring pages.

In spring he peeks out of a wicker basket full of painted eggs, which sits nicely next to the Easter coloring pages. He also holds a big heart balloon for Valentine's Day, and leans over an underwater birthday cake, a fun card for a pool or beach party.

Easy Nemo pages and busier reef scenes

Dory by the seaweed, Bruce with Dory and Nemo above the giant clam have big shapes and lots of open water. Quick to color brings these lighter Finding Nemo pages to the top:

• Bruce the Shark and Dory
• Dory Smiling by the Seaweed
• Nemo in a Santa Hat with a Present

The anemone hug, the pumpkin and the turtle ride are packed with tentacles, scales and stripes. Lots of detail brings them forward:

• Nemo Riding a Sea Turtle
• Nemo in an Easter Basket
• Nemo and Marlin in the Anemone

An under the sea party

1. Print Nemo, Dory, Crush and Bruce, one per guest.
2. Set out orange, blue, yellow, green and pink markers.
3. Let everyone draw extra bubbles and seaweed around their fish.
4. Tape the pages on a wall above a long strip of blue paper, as a giant aquarium.

Summer party hosts can add the beach coloring pages for sandcastles and shells, and the summer coloring pages for sunny extras.

Getting the reef onto paper

Each Nemo sheet is a 300 dpi A4 PDF that costs nothing to download. Bubbles and seaweed often float near the top and bottom of the page, and the fit to page setting keeps them on a Letter sheet. For a whole aquarium, gather the fish in your Add to pack list and print a single file. Each browser's menu is covered in the printing guide.