Pokemon Coloring Pages

A shell and a curled tail make Squirtle. One enormous sleepy belly makes Snorlax. A long blue ribbon with an open jaw makes Gyarados. Each of the Pokemon coloring pages on this site, all free to print, keeps those shapes clear and put each creature somewhere it belongs, a pond, a volcano, a stage, a snowy forest, so a young trainer has a scene to fill once the Pokemon is done.

The Pokemon on these sheets:

• The Kanto starters: Bulbasaur in the grass and the jungle, Charmander by campfires and a volcano, Squirtle on the beach and in a pond.
• Pikachu in a field of flowers, jumping among clouds and sitting on a log.
• Sleepy and silly ones: Snorlax napping, Psyduck holding its head, Jigglypuff singing on a stage, Meowth dancing under street lamps.
• Fire and fur: Vulpix with its six tails in snow, flowers and forest, and Growlithe among the rocks.
• Big and rare: Gyarados out of the waves, Dragonite flapping its small wings, Mew in a floating bubble, Lucario on a mountain cliff.

A few sheets go well together. Meowth lifts a dumbbell on the same kind of beach where Squirtle waves, and Gengar peeks from behind a tree under the stars, the spookiest of the set.

Pokemon, from a Game Boy game to a worldwide series

Pokemon began as a pair of Game Boy games, Pokemon Red and Green, made by Game Freak and released in Japan in 1996. American players got Red and Blue in 1998, the same year the anime with Ash and Pikachu reached US television. The first games held 151 Pokemon, and every new generation since has added more.

Each Pokemon has one or two types, like Fire, Water or Grass. Trainers catch them in Poké Balls, raise them, and many of them evolve into bigger forms. Several on these pages are famous for exactly that: tiny Charmander grows into Charizard, and the clumsy fish Magikarp becomes the fearsome Gyarados.

Pokemon types and the colors that go with them

A Pokemon's colors usually follow its type, so the type is the best guide at the crayon box.

Fire Pokemon

• Charmander: orange body, cream belly, and a yellow and red flame on the tip of its tail.
• Vulpix: reddish brown, with six curled tails in orange and a lighter tuft on its head.
• Growlithe: orange with black stripes and cream fluff on its chest, tail and head.

In the grid, Vulpix also stands in the snow among fir trees. In the newer games a snowy Vulpix from Alola is pale white and icy blue, and that is a lovely way to color it.

Water and Grass Pokemon

• Squirtle: light blue skin, a brown shell with a cream underside.
• Psyduck: yellow, with a cream beak.
• Gyarados: deep blue, with a cream belly.
• Bulbasaur: blue-green with darker patches, and a green bulb on its back.

Normal, Ghost and Dragon

• Snorlax: dark blue-green body, cream face and belly.
• Jigglypuff: round and pink, with big blue-green eyes.
• Meowth: cream fur and a gold coin on its forehead.
• Gengar: purple, with red eyes and a wide grin.
• Dragonite: orange with a cream belly and small sea green wings.

Pokemon starter coloring pages: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle

Every trainer in the original games had to pick one of three partners, and children still argue about it. Each starter has several sheets here, so a child can stay loyal to their pick.

• Bulbasaur stands on a grassy hill, walks through a jungle past a little mushroom, and smiles in thick greenery.
• Charmander waves beside a campfire, stands on a rock below a volcano, and holds flames in both paws.
• Squirtle stands on a beach by a palm tree, waves both arms in a pond full of lily pads, and looks out over the water from a muddy shore.

Tiny turtles in real life have their own sheets in the turtle coloring pages, and for Charmander's fire-breathing relatives in legend, the dragon coloring pages take over.

Turning Charmander into Charizard

Charizard is the fully evolved form of Charmander. It keeps the same palette: orange body, cream belly, flame on the tail. Its wings are the main new part, blue-green on the inside. A child who wants Charizard can color a Charmander sheet, then draw two big wings behind it in pencil and fill them in.

Mew, Lucario and other Pokemon fans look for

Mew is a Mythical Pokemon, number 151, rare even in the games. It is pale pink with a long thin tail. Here it floats inside a bubble among ancient ruins and drifting lanterns, and swings on a vine through a forest.

Lucario, a Fighting and Steel type, stands on a cliff with mountains behind, and again on rocky ground in shorts and a cape. Color it blue and black, with a cream chest.

Gyarados rises out of the water with its jaw open, and Dragonite flaps its small wings in shallow water. Both are big, powerful Pokemon drawn with simple outlines.

Animal lovers can match a Pokemon to the creature it resembles. Vulpix leads to the fox coloring pages, Growlithe to a pile of dog coloring pages, Psyduck to the duck coloring pages and Meowth to the cat coloring pages.

Little trainers and older ones

Nearly every Pokemon here stands alone with a few clouds or bushes, so most of the grid suits a four or five-year-old. Press Quick to color to keep just those big single Pokemon with almost nothing behind them:

• Psyduck holding its head among trees
• Snorlax asleep with two birds
• Charmander beside a burst of flame

Meowth dancing between old street lamps, Bulbasaur in the jungle and Jigglypuff floating over the city carry more to fill. Lots of detail brings the cobblestones, ferns and rooftops to the front:

• Meowth dancing in the street

For the single most asked-for Pokemon, the Pikachu coloring pages have a whole collection, and Eevee and its evolutions fill the Eevee coloring pages.

Make a Pokemon card from a colored page

Pokemon cards are what many kids collect, and a colored page can become a homemade one.

1. Color a Pokemon, then cut around it, leaving a thin white border.
2. Glue it near the top of a piece of card cut to about 2.5 by 3.5 inches, the size of a trading card.
3. Write its name at the top and a number of HP (hit points) in the corner.
4. Below the picture, invent one or two attacks with a damage number.
5. Color the card's edge in the color of its type: red for Fire, blue for Water, green for Grass.

Two children with a few homemade cards each can trade them, which is half the fun of the real ones.

Pokemon Halloween and Christmas ideas

There is a natural Halloween pick: Gengar, the purple Ghost type, peeking from behind a tree under the stars. Next to it, the friendly spirits of the ghost coloring pages and the jack o'lanterns of the Halloween coloring pages make an October stack.

For Christmas, Vulpix in the snow between fir trees sets the scene, especially colored white like its icy form. A child can add a Santa hat in pencil before coloring, and the Christmas coloring pages bring trees and stockings around it. Pikachu has his own Santa hat sheet in the Pikachu collection.

Other game and anime fans often move on to the Kirby coloring pages and the anime coloring pages.

Printing a Pokemon stack for a sleepover

Pick each guest's favorite and press Add to pack beneath it, so the whole team leaves the printer as one PDF. The files are A4 at 300 dpi. A4 paper takes them at 100 percent; a US Letter printer needs fit to page, which keeps every tail and flame inside the margins. If the card project is planned, print a few on card stock. A short guide to printing walks through the dialog box. Every Pokemon here is an original drawing, yours to print for a party, a class or a rainy afternoon.