Pikachu Coloring Pages

Red cheeks, black-tipped ears and a tail shaped like a lightning bolt are what turn a yellow shape into Pikachu. Every one of the free Pikachu coloring pages here draws the electric mouse in big, round shapes with thick outlines, simple enough for a preschooler who knows exactly one Pokémon and wants that one.

Pikachu's sheets at a glance:

• Name and word pages: PIKACHU in bubble letters, plus HELLO, BE KIND, SMILE and SWEET DREAMS.
• Big face portraits and simple poses: winking, waving, cheering, dancing, blowing a kiss, riding a scooter.
• Sleepy Pikachu: curled up under a cloud, tucked in a blanket, asleep on a crescent moon or inside a Poké Ball.
• Dress-up: a detective, a wizard, and cozy dinosaur and bunny onesies.
• Treats: a cupcake, a swirly lollipop, an ice cream cone, a giant strawberry and a giant donut.
• Friends: Pikachu with Eevee and with Togepi.
• Holidays: Halloween, fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas, winter, birthdays and Valentine's Day.

A sheet in the grid works like a little comic strip, with Pikachu showing a different feeling in each panel. Another packs a whole crowd of tiny smiling Pikachu inside a Poké Ball.

Pikachu, the Electric-type mascot of Pokémon

Pikachu is an Electric-type Pokémon, number 025 in the national Pokédex. It first appeared in the games Pokémon Red and Green, released in Japan in 1996, and became famous around the world as Ash's partner in the anime.

The designer Atsuko Nishida drew it. She has said the first idea came from a round Japanese sweet, and that she later reworked it with a squirrel in mind, which explains the full cheeks and the big tail. Put one of the squirrel coloring pages next to a Pikachu and ask a child to spot what they share.

The name mixes two Japanese sounds: pika, a sparkle of electricity, and chu, the squeak of a small animal.

Pichu, Pikachu and Raichu

Pikachu sits in the middle of a small family. It evolves from the baby Pichu and evolves into Raichu with a Thunder Stone. Raichu is orange with a long, thin tail, so a child who wants a Raichu can color one of these pages orange as a game.

What colors is Pikachu?

Four colors make Pikachu recognizable, and a toddler with four crayons can get them all:

• Body: bright yellow.
• Cheeks: two round red circles, where it stores its electricity.
• Ear tips: black.
• Back and tail base: two brown stripes across the back, and brown where the tail meets the body.

The eyes are black with a white shine. Everything else (sky, grass, clothes, presents) is free.

A small detail fans love: since the Diamond and Pearl games, a female Pikachu has a notch at the end of its tail that makes it look like a heart. A child can draw that notch in pencil on any sheet and decide their Pikachu is a girl.

A Pikachu color by number

1. Number each area by color: 1 for yellow, 2 for red, 3 for black, 4 for brown.
2. Write the key at the top of the page.
3. Photocopy the numbered page before the child starts, so you can use it again.

Cute Pikachu coloring pages for toddlers

Most sheets show a single Pikachu with little behind him, and that is what makes this collection easy for young children. Several are face portraits that fill the page: a wink among little stars, a flower tucked behind one ear, a head and shoulders view. Others are plain poses, Pikachu running with motion lines, standing with his hands on his hips, cheering with both arms up or lying on his tummy among small flowers. These one-character pages, with almost nothing around them, are what the Quick to color button brings forward:

• Pikachu face winking with a smile
• Pikachu sitting under his name
• Big Pikachu portrait filling the page

A few pages give more to do: the Poké Ball full of Pikachu, the face inside a ring of stars, the flower crown and the berries with two birds and a caterpillar. Pikachu in his party hat, presents in his arms and confetti all around, means many small pieces to fill, and Lots of detail sorts pages like that to the front:

• Pikachu wearing a party hat

The comic strip page is good for talking about feelings. Ask which face is happy, which is surprised, and let the child color each panel in a color that matches the mood. The emotions coloring pages carry the same idea further.

PIKACHU name pages and other Pikachu lettering

Some sheets put words in hollow bubble letters big enough for a crayon. The name PIKACHU heads several of them, with Pikachu jumping, waving, sitting or holding a big star under it. Others say HELLO, BE KIND with hearts, SMILE on a sign, and SWEET DREAMS above Pikachu asleep on the moon.

• Color each letter a different color for a rainbow name.
• Or keep the letters yellow with a brown outline, so the word matches Pikachu.
• Pin BE KIND or SMILE on a classroom door, and SWEET DREAMS above a bed.

Children learning to spell their own name can trace the letters with a finger first. The letter coloring pages go through the whole alphabet.

Pokémon Pikachu coloring pages with Eevee and Togepi

Pikachu and Eevee hold a Poké Ball between them, and in another sheet they play under a tree with butterflies and flowers. Togepi, the little egg Pokémon, sits beside Pikachu on a fallen log in the grass.

• Eevee is brown with a cream collar of fur and a cream tip on its bushy tail.
• Togepi is a pale body inside a white eggshell with red and blue triangles.
• The Poké Ball is red on top, white below, with a black band and a white button.

For more of the brown fox-like Pokémon and its evolutions, see the Eevee coloring pages. The whole cast, from Charmander to Snorlax, lives in the Pokémon coloring pages.

Detective Pikachu, onesies and treats

Detective Pikachu is the star of a game and of the 2019 live action film. Here he wears a detective hat and holds a magnifying glass, in two poses. Color the hat brown, the rim gray or gold, and leave the lens almost white with a pale blue edge. The wizard page gives him a robe, a pointed hat and a lightning bolt for a wand.

He also turns up in a cozy dinosaur onesie and a bunny onesie. Green with orange spikes suits the dinosaur, pale pink or white the bunny. Kids who like the costume more than the mouse can go on to the dinosaur coloring pages or the bunny coloring pages.

The snack pages are quick and cheerful: a cupcake with a cherry on top, a big swirly lollipop, an ice cream cone he is licking, a giant strawberry he hugs and a giant donut with sprinkles. Pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles keep them bright next to the yellow. More sweets wait in the cupcake coloring pages and the donut coloring pages.

Pikachu Halloween, Christmas and birthday coloring pages

Many of the holiday sheets carry the greeting in bubble letters, so a folded page becomes a card.

• Halloween: HAPPY HALLOWEEN with Pikachu in a witch hat on a jack o'lantern, and Pikachu dressed as a little ghost with a candy bucket and bats. More in the Halloween coloring pages and ghost coloring pages.
• Fall and Thanksgiving: HELLO FALL with a scarf, a pumpkin and falling leaves, and THANKFUL with a pilgrim hat and a pumpkin pie, beside the Thanksgiving coloring pages.
• Christmas and winter: MERRY CHRISTMAS in a Santa hat with a present, another Santa hat page hugging a bow-topped gift, a reindeer headband by a little tree, and LET IT SNOW with a knitted hat and a snowman. Keep going with the Christmas coloring pages and snowman coloring pages.
• Birthday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY with a party hat and a cake, the presents and confetti page, and Pikachu in the grass with balloons. Candles and bunting are in the happy birthday coloring pages.
• Valentine's Day: a heart-shaped balloon among stars and clouds, and Pikachu blowing a kiss, next to the Valentine's coloring pages.

For a Pokémon party, gather the birthday sheets and a few Poké Ball pages, and set out yellow, red, black and brown crayons.

Pikachu outside: surfing, rain and flowers

He surfs a wave past a palm tree, and again under a smiling sun with seagulls, both summer pages to pair with the beach coloring pages. He walks in the rain under an umbrella and climbs a tree reaching for apples, a sheet that suits back to school time.

In the flower field, use soft pinks and purples so the yellow stays the brightest thing on the page. When Pikachu dozes on the crescent moon, color the sky dark blue and add a few yellow stars, or find more night skies in the star coloring pages.

Fans of other round cartoon characters often move on to the Kirby coloring pages and the kawaii coloring pages.

Printing Pikachu for a card or a party

Every Pikachu downloads as an A4 file at 300 dpi. A4 paper takes it unchanged; with US Letter, pick fit to page and the zigzag tail tip stays on the sheet. For a Halloween or Christmas card, card stock folds more cleanly than copy paper. Collect a party stack with Add to pack under each drawing, and see the printing guide for where each printer hides its scaling.