Valentine Heart
- Suggested age
- 2-4
- Difficulty
- 2 / 5
- Detail
- low
- Areas to colour
- 6
- Ink coverage
- 5.3%
- Line weight
- Medium
- Narrowest gap
- 1.9 mm
- License
- CC0 public domain - free for classroom and commercial use
None
This is a free printable Valentine Heart coloring page. It has 6 separate areas to colour, medium outlines, and covers about 5.3% 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 is fine. This page uses very little ink, so it will not soak through or curl, and it costs almost nothing to print a class set.
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 this page prints faint, the cause is almost always a draft-quality or toner-save setting rather than a low cartridge - there is very little ink on this page to begin with, so any economy mode shows immediately. Switch to normal quality and it will come out solid black.
What's on the page
There are 6 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 1.86 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 markers. Both work; pencils give you more control in the smaller areas.
Who this page suits
We put this page at roughly the 2-4 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.
In a nursery or reception setting this is fine-motor practice more than art. The wide spaces let a child succeed with a fist grip, and success is what keeps them coming back to the table.
What to look for in this drawing
There is no reference to be faithful to here, which is liberating and also the hard part. Give yourself one rule before you start - no two touching shapes share a colour, say - and the page will hold together.
How to colour this page well
With only a handful of areas to fill, the thing that decides how this page looks is colour choice rather than technique. Pick three or four colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel and it will read as deliberate; grab whatever is nearest and it will read as random. Fill the biggest shape first - it sets the tone for everything you choose afterwards.
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
Abstract pages make good gift wrap and book covers once coloured, because there is no right way up. Cut one into strips and weave them for a simple paper mat.
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.