Unicorn Coloring Pages

Ask a child what a unicorn looks like and they will say a white horse with a horn, which is true and is also why so many unicorn coloring pages are dull. The horn is one shape. Once it is on the paper there is nothing left to decide, and what you get is the same pony printed at four different sizes.

The interesting part of drawing a unicorn is everything around the horn. A horn that spirals properly has a groove winding from the base to the tip and reads instantly, where a smooth cone reads as a party hat. A mane can be one heavy sheet of hair, a plait with flowers pushed into it, six flat bands lying side by side like a rainbow, or a mass of curls with stars caught inside them, and each of those becomes a completely different page the moment a child starts filling it in. So these 34 drawings change the mane, the pose, the company and the amount of detail instead of changing the size of the same unicorn.

They fall into six groups, and the groups exist because a three year old with a fat crayon and a ten year old with fineliners want opposite things from a unicorn.

Six poses, from standing still to fast asleep

The first sheet is the classic, one unicorn side on with a flower growing beside its front hoof, because that is the one children ask for by name. After that it rears up on its hind legs on a flowery mound with the mane thrown back, gallops flat out with the wind curling behind it, flies on a pair of spread feathered wings above the clouds, sleeps curled up on a cloud under a crescent moon, and finally puts its head down to graze in long grass.

The mane is where the colour goes

Five sheets that treat the hair as the subject rather than the trimming. A mane so long it sweeps across the whole page in open ribbons. A thick plait with flowers pushed in along its length and a ribbon at the end. Flat bands of hair lying side by side under a rainbow, which is the sheet to hand a child who wants every felt tip out of the pack at once. A mane breaking into swirls with stars caught inside them. And a close portrait where the spiralled horn is finally the biggest thing on the paper.

Somewhere magical to stand

A unicorn on a cloud with a rainbow arching over the whole page. One picking its way between toadstools and ferns in a forest. One on a hilltop with a three towered castle behind. One up to its knees in a flower meadow with butterflies going past. One under a sky packed with stars and a shooting star crossing the top corner. And one drinking from a rock pool at the foot of a waterfall.

Nobody wants to be a unicorn on their own

For the child who colours the friend in first. A fairy hovering by the horn with a wand. A foal reaching up to touch noses with its mother. Eight butterflies circling a unicorn sitting down with its legs folded. A girl riding bareback with her hair and the unicorn tail streaming the same way. A rabbit sitting between the front hooves with two birds perched on the back. And a birthday party with a paper hat, a three tier cake and balloons on strings.

The same unicorn, drawn six ways

One plain outline with nothing at all inside it. A kawaii chibi with an enormous head, closed happy eyes and two round blushing cheeks. A realistic one with proper horse anatomy and feathered fetlocks above the hooves. A mandala with a unicorn head at the centre of rings of petals and stars. A zentangle whose body is panelled into scales, waves, spirals and cross hatching. And a doodle unicorn filled with stars, spots, stripes and checks.

Thick lines and fine lines

The two ends of the collection. Three sheets are drawn for small hands, with very heavy outlines and no narrow gaps anywhere: a giant simple unicorn that fills the page, an enormous smiling unicorn face on its own, and an easy one standing beside a round flower and a triangular tree. At the other end sits a head whose mane turns into roses and leaves, and an intricate unicorn under an arch of vines wearing a patterned blanket.

What age are these unicorn coloring pages for?

Three to ten. The three beginner sheets use very thick lines and wide open areas, which is what a three year old can stay inside. The poses, the settings and the companions suit five to eight. The mandala, the zentangle, the floral mane and the vine arch are fine line work and will keep an older child busy all afternoon.