We ran out of coffee at exactly 6 AM today which is basically a mom emergency.
So instead of functioning like a normal adult I just sat on the cold floor with my toddlers and printed out a massive stack of elephant coloring pages. My youngest immediately tried to eat the gray crayon.
Our design team drew these up last week because honestly kids just naturally love these giant wrinkly animals. There is something weirdly hypnotic about filling in those big wide ears.
You can easily grab whatever you need from the grid below. Just click on any picture to open the file and print it out.
Featured Elephant Coloring Pages
Browse Different Wild Animals
Highlighted Elephant Coloring Pages
Stripping Bark from a Fever Tree
This shows a big African elephant pulling bark right off a tree trunk. Kids usually don’t even know they eat bark. It acts as a fun little nature lesson while they sit there coloring.
The texture on the tree trunk is great for practicing rough messy lines. My oldest boy always likes to use a dark brown crayon pressed really hard for the heavy bark.
A Matriarch Touching Bones
I think this particular image is deeply special. The matriarch is gently touching an old skull sitting on the dry cracked ground. It shows how incredibly smart and emotional these creatures actually are.
We made sure the distant savannah background has a few sparse looking trees. The dry dirt gives you plenty of space to blend different earthy shades.
Bathing a Calf in the River
An adult Asian elephant is gently washing her baby in a shallow pool. The tiny calf looks so completely happy sitting in the cool water. I swear my actual human toddlers fight bath time way more than this baby does.
The small ripples in the water take a little bit of patience to color right. A lighter blue pencil works best so you can still easily see the drawing lines underneath.
Spraying Water in the Air
This captures classic animal fun. The elephant is standing deep in the flowing river shooting water high up in the air.
Those flying splashes are really satisfying to fill in. I always tell my kids to leave the splashing drops completely white and just color the sky behind them.
Resting Forehead on a Sanctuary Wall
Sometimes a tired animal just needs a quiet break. Here one is pressing its head heavily against a brick wall in what looks like a sanctuary enclosure.
It makes a very quiet and thoughtful coloring page of an elephant. The brick wall gives your kids a nice chance to use reds and oranges next to all that gray.
Picking a Mango
Look closely at the trunk wrapping carefully around a single mango hidden in the tree branches. It takes serious muscle control to actually do that. My middle kid usually colors the mango bright pink for some strange reason.
The leafy branches take up a good portion of the top half. It adds a nice pop of bright green to these coloring pages for elephants if you want to hang them on the fridge later.
Calf Chasing Birds
A tiny energetic calf is running near a waterhole trying to catch some birds flying away. Its little trunk is raised up high in the air.
Kids absolutely love the fast action in this one. This specific elephant coloring sheet always ends up completely covered in messy mud brown scribbles at my house.
Splashing in a Mud Pool
This clumsy baby tripped right into a thick mud puddle and is trying to scramble out. The wet mud is splashing up everywhere.
The motion lines make the drawing feel really alive. You will definitely need to buy some extra brown markers for this one.
Tips for Coloring Elephants
1. Layering Different Grays
A lot of kids just grab the standard gray crayon and color the whole animal flat. That can look pretty dull after a few minutes honestly. Why do they do it? Probably because gray is easy. I try to teach my kids to mix up their shading.
You can use a dark charcoal gray for the heavy shadows under the belly. Then maybe use a lighter silver gray for the top of the back where the sun hits. It makes the printable elephant coloring pages look much more three-dimensional.
2. Add Some Dirt and Mud
Wild animals take dust baths constantly to protect their sensitive skin from the brutal sun. So they are rarely ever perfectly clean in real life. You can lightly shade some light brown or dusty orange right over the gray skin.
It gives them a very realistic dusty look. Or just let them go crazy and color thick mud splatters on the legs. My boys think muddy coloring pages for elephants are absolutely hilarious.
3. Coloring the Savannah Grass
A lot of these pictures have dry grass and bare trees sitting in the background. Do not just use a bright neon green for the grass. The African savannah is usually dry and completely yellowish during certain seasons.
Try using tan or ochre for the dry dirt ground. It makes the dark gray of the animal stand out much more. Plus it is a sneaky way to teach them about different habitats. I think coloring should be a little educational too.
4. Adding Pink to the Ears
Asian species often have little pink spots or depigmented skin on their ears and trunks. Why do they get those spots? I don’t know honestly. But they look cool. It is a nice easy way to break up the solid gray space. You can just lightly dab some pale pink colored pencil in those exact areas.
Even African species have a little pink inside their open mouths or at the very tip of the trunk. Just a tiny hint of soft color makes a surprisingly big difference. I usually keep a sharp pink pencil sitting nearby for this exact reason.
5. How to Color the River Water
Several of these pages feature moving rivers or muddy waterholes. Liquid water is never just one single flat blue color. It is like painting a real landscape. I like to layer aqua teal and deep navy blue.
Leave the splashing water drops completely white. It makes the heavy water look like it is actually moving around. Working on an elephant coloring sheet with water elements is honestly great practice for blending colors.
6. Highlighting the Skin Wrinkles
These creatures are super wrinkly. The artists on my team draw these dark lines in but you can emphasize them yourself. Take a very sharp black or dark gray colored pencil.
Gently trace over the deeper wrinkle lines on the long trunk and knobby knees. It gives the thick skin that classic rough texture. Honestly it takes some extra time but the final result is totally worth the effort.
7. Creating a Sunset Sky
Instead of a plain blue sky try doing a warm sunset. Both Africa and Asia have incredibly beautiful vibrant sunsets. You can blend bright red orange and yellow horizontally across the top of the page.
It looks absolutely amazing behind the bare trees and the big gray animal. My daughter did a bright purple and pink sky yesterday. It made her stack of free elephant coloring pages look like something straight out of a weird dream.
8. Watch Out for Marker Bleed
If your kids insist on using those heavy wet markers you have to be careful. The thick ink will soak right through normal thin printer paper. Will it bleed through to the table? Oh definitely. I always put a piece of junk scrap paper underneath.
Or better yet print them on heavy cardstock if your home printer can handle it. Cardstock holds up to heavy aggressive coloring way better. It saves your nice kitchen table from getting permanent ugly marker stains all over it.