Sheep Coloring Pages

Few animals are as satisfying to color as a sheep: a big cloud of wool on four thin legs, with a calm face in the middle. These sheep coloring pages follow the flock through a whole year in the countryside, from spring lambs to winter snow.

The lambs get plenty of pages. One stands close to its mother in a meadow of daisies, another leaps over a woven willow fence, one sleeps on a patchwork quilt, one eats from a bucket in the barn, one peeks out of a wheelbarrow of hay, another rests in a wooden crib, one wears a crown of daisies, and a very brave one stands right on its mother's back. A lamb sleeps in a basket of wool beside the spinning wheel, and a ewe shelters her twin lambs next to a hay wagon in the rain.

The grown-up sheep graze beside a dry stone wall, in a field of flowers and in front of an old windmill. They wade across a stream, drink from a stone trough, rest in the shade of an olive tree, stand among pumpkins and corn in autumn, scratch their backs on a fence post, look down at a harbor village from a cliff path and stand in the snow with snowflakes caught in their wool. A sheep with a bell walks a mountain trail, a curly-fleeced sheep waits at the gate, and a close-up page is almost nothing but a woolly face. The farm work is here too: a sheepdog herds the flock toward the gate, a shepherd with a crook leads them over a stone bridge, another brings them home with a lantern, a girl in rain boots walks a lamb through the farmyard, and one sheep gets its yearly haircut, its fleece rolled up beside it. Rams with curled horns stand on a rocky ledge and among the foxgloves, one of them shaggy and long-haired, and a sheep filled with swirling patterns completes the flock.

Why sheep need a haircut

Wild sheep shed their coats, but most farm sheep have been bred for thousands of years to grow wool that never stops growing. That is why they are shorn, usually once a year in late spring, before the hot weather. A skilled shearer can take off a whole fleece in a few minutes, and it comes away in one piece, like a thick rug, which is what the shearing page shows. The fleece is then washed, combed, spun into yarn on a wheel like the one beside the sleeping lamb, and knitted into sweaters, socks and scarves.

A few other things worth knowing:

• A lamb can stand and walk within minutes of being born.
• Sheep have rectangular pupils, which give them a very wide view around them to watch for danger.
• Research has shown that sheep can recognize the faces of other sheep, and of familiar people, for a long time.
• Sheep feel safest in a group, which is why a good sheepdog moves the whole flock by moving only a few of them.

What color is a sheep?

White is only the start. Real fleeces come in cream, oatmeal, gray, brown and black, and many sheep have a darker face and legs than their body. Try:

• Cream or pale yellow for the wool, with a little gray in the curls for shadow.
• Black or dark brown faces and legs, like many meat breeds.
• Warm browns for the rams' horns, a shade darker in each ridge.

The patterned sheep and the snowflake sheep are the place for bright colors, since no real sheep looks like either.

Big woolly shapes and busy farms

A sheep is mostly one big rounded shape, so the simplest pages suit even the youngest children, who can fill the whole fleece in one color. Quick to color, above the grid, begins with:

• Fluffy face
• Snowy sheep
• Scratching post

The detailed pages are full of stone walls, flowers, a harbor village or a crowd of sheep. Lots of detail begins with:

• Shepherd on the bridge
• Wool basket nap
• Shepherd with a lantern

Cotton wool sheep

Sheep pages are perfect for a simple craft. Color the face, legs and background, then glue small pieces of cotton wool (or torn tissues) over the fleece so the sheep becomes soft to the touch. It makes a good spring or Easter activity, and a nice way to talk about where wool comes from: pass around a real wool sweater and let children feel the difference.

Printing the flock

Every page is a free A4 PDF drawn at 300 dpi. A4 prints at full size, and on US Letter "fit to page" shrinks the drawing by about six percent so every curl stays on the paper. The printing guide shows the setting. Add to pack gathers a whole flock into one file. More farm friends are in the farm coloring pages, the cow coloring pages and the horse coloring pages, and many more creatures in the animal coloring pages.