20 Best Coloring Books for Kids Ages 3 to 18

Too much screen time? Kids complaining they’re bored? Try some new coloring books as a way to spend your at-home hours in a creative way.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes my kids just need a new, shiny, never been seen coloring book to get them refocused on art and off their screens.

Plus, coloring books improve concentration, develop motor skills, and calm your mind. Big benefits for children in addition to getting off screens.

(Although for me, adult coloring books hurt my eyes, even with my reading glasses, and their tiny illustrations cramp my hands, so kids’ coloring books are my favorites.)

As far as materials go, my kids love their crayons, colored pencils, markers, and gel pens to markers. What about your kids?

colored pencils for children's coloring books

And, if you’re reading out loud to your kids, they can listen while they color. (Read aloud book lists here.)

Let’s dive into the best coloring books for your kids.

20 Best Coloring Books for Kids Ages 3 to 18

Table of Contents

Ages 3 – 7

Use everything washable–including washable crayons!

My First Toddler Coloring Book by Tanya Emelyanova
You’ll appreciate the toddler skill-building book filled with numbers, shapes, words, animals, and more.

My First Big Book of Coloring
Chunky black lines illustrate shapes that toddlers and preschoolers can easily recognize and color.

First Coloring Book Ages 1 – 3
Bold lines and age-appropriate art will give kids practice with fine motor skills, colors, and creativity.

Melissa & Doug ABC 123 Wild Animals Dot-to-Dot Coloring Pad
Follow the letters or numbers to complete the scenes. I love how this does double duty — it’s fun and educational!

Ages 7 – 12

Coloring Cute KLUTZ
Yes, these are dang cute, right!? A 72-page book with a spiral binding, perforated pages, and 5 double-tipped colored pencils in 10 colors that your kids will love.

A Million Dogs: Fabulous Canines to Color by Lulu Mayo
Adorable, cute, lovable dogs fill these pages. Which will you color in first? Lulu May’s coloring books are enthusiastically endorsed by Christa of Pura Vida Mom’s kids! If you like the Lulu Mayo drawings, also try her Bears, Owls, Cats, Sloths, and Unicorns coloring books. (Her drawing books are also fantastic, both my girls love them!)

Disney Princess Coloring Book with Stickers
With almost 300 coloring pages, this best-selling coloring book offers hours of coloring fun for kids. 2 sticker princess sheets are included as a bonus.

Animal Babies: Cool & Calm Coloring for Kids
My daughters totally dig the super cute and happy images to color in this coloring book. Even my 15-year-old has already done at least a third of the coloring pages. Color therapy for teens? Who knew?

Coloring Books for Boys
The designs in this book are quite impressive– whether you’re a boy or a girl, kids will enjoy coloring animals like gorillas, sloths, turtles, and more– all the animals are filled with patterns and super cool.

Super Cute Notebook Doodles
32 fun notebook doodle animal designs to color with watercolors, colored pencils, markers, crayons, or gel pens. I love the perforated pages, too.

Space Coloring Book by Blue Wave Press
Full-page drawings of planets, spaceships, rockets, and even aliens.

I Am Confident, Brave and Beautiful by Hopscotch Girls
Cute and playful, this book contains 22 coloring pages filled with positive messages and whimsical drawings. (Go to Hopscotch Girls for free coloring page downloads!)

Harry Potter Coloring Book
I love this new series of coloring books — also check out Magical Places & Characters, Magical Creatures, and Artifacts.

Color Me Powerful
Inspiring prompts, coloring pages, list starters, phrases, and patterns—all featuring DC’s female superheroes—jump-start the imagination. Many beloved characters appear throughout colorful pages which encourage girls to doodle their own superhero name, design a motto, create a costume, and other creative pursuits befitting a superheroine.

Fashion Angels Fashion Design
Use the stencils to create outfits, then color them in. My kids LOVE these books. (Their Interior Design book is also fun for creative kids.

Pierre the Maze Detective Coloring Book
We did this coloring search and find book as a family activity after dinner for several weeks — it was a blast! We liked how it combined coloring with a search and find. (If you want just a search-and-find book, you can buy the full-color Pierre the Maze Detective book.)

Fantastic Cities by Steve McDonald
Color in real cities — from Tokyo to Rio.

Color Quest: Color By Numbers (Extreme Puzzle Challenges for Clever Kids) by Amanda Learmonth, illustrated by Lauren Farnsworth
I think this could be relaxing for kids AND informative because it’s a hidden picture and coloring page.

Wise Words to Color: Inspiration to Live and Color By by Zoe Ingram
My 11-year-old started coloring in this beautiful book of quotes and mandalas when sick. And I’ve been enjoying coloring it myself. The quotes are lovely and inspiring.

Adventures in the Garden: A Coloring Book of Beautiful Blooms for Exploring, Creating, and Having Fun by Patricia Zapata
With larger spaces to color, this is a book for elementary-aged children who love the natural world and sweet inspirational phrases

Sweet & Creepy Coloring illustrations by Kitty Willow Wilson
You’ll love the cute mushroom people, expressive skeletons, ghosts and foxes, pumpkins and wolves on backgrounds of trees, plants, flowers, and stars. The artful black and white illustrations will motivate coloring!

Ages 13 – Adult

Art of Coloring: Disney Animals
Who wouldn’t want to color in these intricate gorgeous pen-and-ink illustrations of adorable Disney characters?

Enchanted Forest Coloring Book by Johanna Basford
These illustrations are so detailed! I still have yet to finish one page but it’s beautiful, with lovely images of animals and flowers.

Fanciful Sea Life by Majorie Sarnat
These intricate designs feel so peaceful to me…schools of fish, a seashell castle, and many more underwater scenes. I also love that the pages are perforated!

Stress Relieving Animal Designs
Exceptionally beautiful animal designs filled with patterns will help you color your own masterpieces.

Dominion of Giants by Eric Messinger
This particular book is a sure-fire hit with fantasy-loving boys and girls — Tolkien and Dungeons and Dragons fans, in particular. Cool quotes from favorite authors plus color palette suggestions pair with amazing illustrations of mages, giants, dwarfs, and more. The artistry is absolutely incredible in this book. These images invite creative coloring — probably displaying afterward. You’ll like the sturdy, perforated pages, too.