FavoritesPrint pack0 pages

Holidays8 original designs

Back to School Coloring Pages

Free printable back to school coloring pages with backpacks, classrooms and school buses, in easy, medium, hard and expert detail. Download each one as a PDF.

Easy back to school coloring pages

Ages 3–5 · Big shapes and thick outlines for small hands.

More Easy pages from every subject: Coloring Pages for Kids · Easy Coloring Pages · Preschool Coloring Pages

Medium back to school coloring pages

Ages 6–8 · A clear subject with a simple scene around it.

More Medium pages from every subject: Coloring Pages for Kids

Hard back to school coloring pages

Ages 9+ · Full scenes with smaller spaces to fill.

Expert back to school coloring pages

Teens & adults · Intricate patterns and fine line work.

More Expert pages from every subject: Adult Coloring Pages

About these back to school coloring pages

Back to school coloring pages can help kids feel excited, or simply a bit more comfortable, about a new school year. Ages 3 to 5 can color a smiling backpack or an apple on a stack of books. Ages 6 to 8 get kids walking to school together and a desk set up for the first day, while kids 9 and up get a busy classroom and a bus pulling up to the school.

Older students and adults can work on the doodle school supplies collage or the school art room with easels and paint pots. Teachers can use school coloring pages as a quiet first-morning activity while families say goodbye, then hang the finished pages as the class's first display.

Also in cute coloring pages and kawaii coloring pages.

Back to School facts to share

  1. School buses were standardized as yellow at a 1939 conference because the color is easy to spot in early morning light.
  2. Most US schools start the new year between early August and early September, depending on the state and school district.
  3. Tip: coloring a classroom scene the week before school is a calm way to talk through what the first day will look like.

Color idea: Use cheerful primary colors for the supplies, classic school bus yellow for the bus, and let kids color the backpack to match their real one.

Back to School coloring page questions

Which back to school page suits a preschooler or kindergartner?

The smiling backpack and the apple on a stack of books are the easy designs. They have big shapes, thick outlines and almost no background, so they work well as a first-week activity in preschool or kindergarten.

Can teachers use these pages in the first week of school?

Yes. Hand out a page as students arrive so they have a quiet task while you greet families. The classroom and art room scenes also make good conversation starters about routines, where supplies are kept and how the room works.

Why don't the buses and books have writing on them?

Lettering is left out of every design because it rarely prints neatly and can distract from coloring. Children can add their own name, school or grade to the backpack or bus with a pencil if they like.

All holidays pages