Unicorn
- Suggested age
- 5-8
- Difficulty
- 3 / 5
- Detail
- medium
- Areas to colour
- 110
- Ink coverage
- 11.9%
- Line weight
- Medium
- Narrowest gap
- 0.4 mm
- License
- CC0 public domain - free for classroom and commercial use
None
This is a free printable Unicorn coloring page. It has 110 separate areas to colour, medium outlines, and covers about 11.9% of the sheet in ink. It prints on one page at 300 DPI on both US Letter and A4.
Printing this page
Standard 20 lb / 80 gsm copy paper handles this page. If you plan to use markers rather than pencils, 24 lb / 90 gsm will stop the colour showing through.
Print at 100% scale rather than "fit to page". Both downloads already leave a 0.25 in (6 mm) margin, which is inside the unprintable edge of every common home and office printer, so nothing gets clipped. The file contains no colour at all, so the black-only setting prints it faster and cheaper.
If it does not print right
If the lines print grey rather than black, check that the printer is not in draft mode and that you have not accidentally selected a colour profile - a pure black-and-white file sent through a colour profile can come out as a muddy composite black built from all four inks.
What's on the page
There are 110 enclosed areas on this page - the separate pockets the outlines divide the drawing into. That is what decides whether a page feels quick or absorbing, far more than the subject does.
The narrowest channel between two lines measures about 0.37 mm at full print size. We measure this on every page because it is what decides whether a marker will bleed across an outline.
The composition is centered, which is worth knowing before you print - it determines how much white space sits around the edge of the drawing.
What to colour it with
For this page we would use coloured pencils or fine-tip markers. A broad marker will cross the narrower gaps before you can stop it.
Who this page suits
We put this page at roughly the 5-8 age range, based on the line weight and how many separate areas it has - not on the subject. Plenty of adults colour pages meant for children and the other way round; the band is a starting point.
This suits an early-years classroom as an early-finisher task or a settling activity after break. It is long enough to occupy a child properly and short enough to finish in one session, which matters more than it sounds.
What to look for in this drawing
Faces carry the whole page. Colour the eyes last and lightly - they are small, they are what everyone looks at, and they are the one place where pressing too hard cannot be undone.
How to colour this page well
Work from the centre of interest outwards, and leave the background until last. That way the background colour is chosen to support what is already on the page instead of fighting it. If you want depth, press harder at the edges of each shape and lighter towards the middle - it is the fastest way to stop a flat fill looking flat.
Stay just inside the outlines rather than aiming exactly at them. A one-millimetre margin of white next to the line reads as crisp; crossing the line reads as messy.
What to do with it once it is coloured
Cut it out, tape a lolly stick to the back and it becomes a puppet. Two of them and you have the beginnings of a story to act out.
Printed at full size the artwork sits within a 0.25 in margin, so there is a clean border to cut along if you are mounting or framing it.
