Reindeer Coloring Pages

Looking for reindeer coloring pages that work for both a nature lesson and the week before Christmas? This free printable collection has both kinds: real reindeer grazing on lichen under the northern lights, and cute reindeer in Santa hats, scarves and tangled Christmas lights.

Here is how the pages split up:

• Wild reindeer standing among pine trees, drinking from a stream, walking in a herd beside a frozen river or running across a snowy field.
• Mothers and calves, from a doe nuzzling her calf to a spotted baby reindeer asleep in the snow.
• Sleigh pages, one with an empty wooden sleigh and one loaded with presents.
• Christmas reindeer dressed for the holidays: a wreath, a candy cane, earmuffs, holly, ornaments hanging from the antlers.
• Friends and cozy scenes: a little girl offering a carrot, a penguin under a plaid blanket, an elf sharing cookies, a mug of cocoa by the fire.

Real reindeer coloring pages: herds, calves and the northern lights

The quieter pages show reindeer the way they live in the far north. One looks up at the aurora over snowy mountains, another stands on a hill under a full moon, and a small herd walks along a frozen river. A grazing reindeer pulls at tufts of lichen, its main winter food, which it digs out from under the snow with its hooves.

These sheets sit well next to the deer coloring pages for a lesson on how the two animals differ, and next to the forest coloring pages when a class studies the northern pine woods.

Are reindeer and caribou the same animal?

Yes. Reindeer and caribou are one species, Rangifer tarandus. In North America the wild herds are called caribou; in Europe and Asia the word is reindeer, and many of those herds are kept by people. The Sámi of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia have herded reindeer for centuries, in the region often called Lapland.

A fact that surprises most kids: reindeer are unusual among deer because females grow antlers too. Adult males drop theirs in late fall, while females keep theirs through the winter. So a reindeer still wearing antlers on Christmas Eve is very likely a female.

Santa's reindeer and the sleigh

People searching for Santa and reindeer pages usually want the sleigh. A reindeer in a harness pulls an empty wooden sleigh past the pine trees, while another reindeer hauls a sleigh piled high with wrapped presents. A third reindeer leaps through a starry sky under a full moon, as if the flight has already started.

Santa's team comes from the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, which names Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen. Kids can write a name under each reindeer they color and line them up along the wall in harness order.

Santa himself is not on these sheets. For him, the Santa coloring pages have the sleigh scenes with the man in red at the reins.

Christmas reindeer coloring pages with hats, lights and presents

The Christmas side of the collection leans cute, with big heads and round eyes. A reindeer peeks out of a gift box, another has a string of Christmas lights wrapped around its antlers, and one wears a wreath with a big bow like a collar. There is a Santa hat, a long striped scarf, fluffy earmuffs, holly and a jingle bell collar.

A few scenes bring in friends:

• a reindeer hugging a snowman in a top hat, a good pair with the snowman coloring pages;
• a reindeer and a Christmas elf eating cookies together, which leads nicely to the gingerbread coloring pages or the Elf on the Shelf coloring pages;
• a reindeer holding a candy cane in its mouth, for kids who also like the candy coloring pages;
• a reindeer sipping hot cocoa on a rug by the fireplace, in the same mood as the cozy coloring pages.

Two reindeer touching noses under a little heart can also go out in February, with the Valentine's coloring pages.

Making a red nosed reindeer like Rudolph

Rudolph was created in 1939 by Robert L. May for a Christmas booklet given away by the Montgomery Ward stores. The song came ten years later and made him part of Santa's team for good.

None of the drawings is Rudolph himself, but any of them can become him. Pick a sheet where the face is large, like the reindeer in the Santa hat or the one in the scarf, then:

1. Color the nose with a bright red marker and leave a small white spot near the top as a shine.
2. Add a soft orange ring around the nose with a colored pencil, so it looks like it glows.
3. Keep the rest of the face brown, so the red stands out.

Brown, cream and velvet: getting reindeer colors right

Real reindeer are not one flat brown. The coat changes with the season, but a winter reindeer usually has:

• a gray brown body, darker on the legs;
• a creamy white neck mane, belly and rump;
• a dark muzzle with a paler patch around the nose;
• antlers in velvet, brown and fuzzy, while they grow, and pale tan or ivory once the velvet rubs off.

For the snow, leave most of the paper white and shade only under the reindeer and along the drifts with light blue or lavender. The northern lights page looks best in soft bands of green, teal and pink, colored lightly side by side so they blend.

Easy reindeer pages for preschool, and a few busier ones

Most of these sheets are open and simple, with one reindeer and a little snow around it. They suit toddlers and preschoolers well. Click Quick to color above the grid to see the reindeer with the biggest shapes and the fewest small spaces:

• Reindeer lying in the snow
• Reindeer on a hill under a full moon
• Reindeer running across the snow

Older kids can pick the scenes with more going on around the animal, like the reindeer in front of a snowy log cabin, a scene that pairs well with the house coloring pages. Lots of detail brings those up:

• Reindeer by a log cabin

December classroom and party ideas

A reindeer page is a natural fit for the weeks before winter break. A few ideas that need nothing more than the printout:

• Reindeer name tags: each child colors a reindeer and writes a made-up reindeer name under it.
• Antler talk: on the real reindeer pages, kids color the antlers and talk about why females keep theirs in winter.
• Holiday cards: fold the gift box or wreath page in half and write a greeting inside.

For a whole December table, mix in the Christmas coloring pages and the winter coloring pages, and add a few animal coloring pages for the children who would rather color an animal than a holiday.

Printing a reindeer stack before December

Each drawing downloads as a free A4 PDF at 300 dpi. A4 paper takes it at full size; on US Letter, the fit to page setting shrinks it a little and keeps every antler tip inside the margins. To print a set for a class or a party in one go, tap Add to pack under each reindeer and download them together. The printing guide shows the settings for common printers.