Popsicle Coloring Pages

Looking for popsicle coloring pages for a hot afternoon? This collection is all frozen treats on a stick, free to print, with thick outlines and big round shapes that a preschooler can fill without a fight. Many of the popsicles have faces, so they wave, ride bikes and go down slides like little characters.

Here is what you can print:

• Popsicle characters with smiles, sunglasses and rosy cheeks, at the beach, on a swim ring, on a surfboard or in a sandbox.
• Kids with ice pops: a girl on the porch steps, two friends with their feet in the pool, a picnic in the park, a grandpa and a boy on a bench.
• Animals cooling off: a puppy, a kitten, a little bear and a penguin, each with a treat.
• Treats on their own: a rocket pop, a fruit-filled pop, a watermelon slice pop, molds on a tray and a cooler packed with ice.

A popsicle coloring page for every summer day

Summer is when these sheets come out. A pop melting into a puddle under the sun, another one floating on a swim ring, a third riding a wave on its surfboard: they all say hot weather in a way a child understands at once. The sand castle in the sandbox and the beach with its palm tree pair well with the beach coloring pages, while the surfing pop sits nicely next to the waves of the ocean coloring pages.

Some pages look like a slice of an ordinary summer day. A girl gets her pop from the window of an ice cream truck. Two kids dangle their feet in a swimming pool. A boy holds a popsicle in each hand and cannot decide which one to lick first. For more of those long bright days, there are sprinklers, picnics and sunshine in the summer coloring pages.

The picnic in the park and the grandpa on the bench are the two busiest scenes, with a basket, a blanket, trees and a path to fill. Older kids tend to pick those first.

Where did the popsicle come from?

The usual story starts in 1905 around San Francisco. Frank Epperson, eleven years old, left a cup of fruit-flavored soda water on the porch on a cold night, with the wooden stirring stick still in it. In the morning the drink had frozen solid around the stick.

Years later, in 1924, he applied for a patent on his frozen treat on a stick. He first wanted to call it the "Epsicle", after his own name. His children called it Pop's 'sicle, and that name won.

Popsicle is still a brand name today, which is why you will also hear ice pop, ice lolly or freezer pop. On these sheets the word does not matter: every one of them is a frozen treat on a wooden stick, waiting for a color.

What colors does a popsicle come in?

Real ice pops come in strong, simple colors, which makes them a good subject for a first try at choosing colors:

• Cherry or strawberry: bright red, with a darker red near the bottom where it melts.
• Orange: a clear orange, almost yellow at the tip.
• Grape: purple, from lilac to deep violet.
• Lime or green apple: a fresh light green.
• Blue raspberry: a sky blue that does not exist in any fruit.
• The stick: tan or light brown, with a few darker lines for the wood grain.

The rocket pop has its own rule. It is usually red, white and blue from the top down, so it belongs at a backyard party next to the 4th of July coloring pages.

Fruit pops and the watermelon slice

The fruit-filled pop holds slices of orange, strawberry, kiwi, lemon and blueberries. Color each fruit in its true shade and leave the ice around them a very pale blue. The watermelon slice pop wants a green rind, a thin white band and a pink inside with black seeds. The fruit coloring pages and the strawberry coloring pages have more of both.

Icing, sprinkles and drips

Two popsicles are dipped in dripping icing and topped with sprinkles. Use a different color for the icing than for the pop, then dot the sprinkles in three or four bright shades. The same trick works on the donut coloring pages and cupcake coloring pages.

Popsicle coloring pages with animals and friends

Several sheets are as much about the animal as the treat. A puppy licks a pop that fell on the ground, a kitten sits beside a huge watermelon pop, a little bear eats one in the grass and a penguin holds a fish-shaped pop. Fans of these four can continue with the dog coloring pages, the kitten coloring pages and the bear coloring pages.

Two popsicle friends hold hands under a heart, one of them covered in sprinkles. It makes a sweet page to color with a best friend, and the friendship coloring pages have more like it.

Quick popsicle sheets for toddlers and preschoolers

Almost every sheet here is quick: one pop, a face, a stick, and a little scenery. A toddler can finish one before the real popsicle in the freezer is ready. The sheets with a single smiling pop and almost no background are the ones the Quick to color button lines up first:

• Fruit popsicle
• Happy popsicle
• Smiling popsicle with a bite

For a longer sitting, the picnic, the bench in the park and the ice cream truck have more to fill around the treat.

Popsicle party and classroom ideas

A popsicle sheet makes a fun waiting game while the real ones freeze.

1. Pour juice into molds and set them in the freezer.
2. Hand out the page with the tray of homemade molds.
3. Let each child color the pops in the flavors they chose.
4. Compare drawings and real pops when the treats come out.

For a summer birthday, the cheerful pop in a party hat standing on a big flower is a good one to print for every guest, next to the happy birthday coloring pages. A teacher closing the school year can hand out the melting pops on the last afternoon before the holidays.

Kids who love sweet things usually go on to the ice cream coloring pages, with cones and sundaes, and to the candy coloring pages.

Printing popsicle coloring pages at home

The sheets are mostly white with bold black lines, so they cost very little ink.

• Each one downloads as a free A4 PDF at 300 dpi.
• A4 paper takes them at actual size. US Letter needs the fit to page setting, which keeps the stick inside the margins.
• For a party table, press Add to pack under each drawing you want and get them in one file.

The printing guide walks through those settings with screenshots. All the drawings are free for home, school and party use.