About these mermaid coloring pages
Mermaid coloring pages take kids under the sea, where a girl or boy with a shimmering fish tail can swim with dolphins, sit on a rock in the waves or explore a sunken ship. Our free mermaid pages range from a simple smiling mermaid with a starfish for toddlers to detailed coral reefs, seashell castles and long flowing hair full of pearls for older kids and adults.
Every free printable page fits US Letter or A4 paper, and you can color any of them online with a tap-to-fill brush. The best part of a mermaid page is the tail: scales can be teal, purple, gold, rainbow or patterned like a real tropical fish. While they color, there is plenty to talk about, from real sea creatures like seahorses and octopuses to mermaid stories told around the world for thousands of years.
Why kids love coloring mermaids
A mermaid is half person and half fish, so children can imagine themselves in the picture and still have a magical tail to design. Many kids give their mermaid their own hair color and then go wild on the tail. Merboys and mermen are just as welcome, and our pages include both.
Mermaid pages are also a gentle way into ocean science. A reef page invites questions about coral, clownfish and sea turtles; a deep-sea page leads to glowing fish and the dark water far below the waves. Children who start with a mermaid often end up asking for a whale or a shark next.
Mermaid tails are also a perfect canvas for patterns. Kids can copy the stripes of an angelfish, the spots of a pufferfish or the rainbow sheen of a real fish scale, or make up their own. One page can turn into a whole family of mermaids, each with a different tail.
What to find on a mermaid page
Most mermaid pages mix one or two characters with an ocean setting. Choosing by setting helps you find the right page fast.
The background matters as much as the mermaid. A shallow reef is full of warm, bright color: pink and orange coral, yellow fish, turquoise water. Deep water is darker and calmer, with navy, purple and a few glowing creatures. Deciding where the mermaid lives before picking up a crayon helps the whole page feel like one place.
- Easy: one mermaid on a rock, with a shell, a starfish or a small fish friend
- Medium: mermaids with dolphins, sea turtles, seahorses or a treasure chest
- Detailed: coral reefs, underwater palaces and long hair braided with pearls and shells
Mermaid legends and real ocean facts
- One of the oldest mermaid stories comes from ancient Assyria, where legend says the goddess Atargatis took the form of half woman, half fish.
- In 1493 Christopher Columbus wrote that he saw three "mermaids" near the Caribbean; they were most likely manatees.
- Manatees and dugongs belong to a group of animals called Sirenia, named after the sirens of Greek myth.
- In Scottish and Irish folklore, selkies are seals who can take off their skins and walk on land as people.
- Hans Christian Andersen wrote his fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" in 1837, and a bronze statue of her has sat by the water in Copenhagen since 1913.
- In West and Central African traditions, Mami Wata is a water spirit often pictured with a fish tail.
- A "mermaid's purse" washed up on a beach is real: it is the egg case of a skate or certain sharks.
Which mermaid page for which age
- Toddlers (2–3)
- Easy pages with one mermaid and a big tail, or a single shell or fish. Thick crayons in blue, green and pink are plenty.
- Preschool (3–5)
- Easy and medium pages with sea friends to name and count: starfish, bubbles, fish and seahorses.
- Kids (5–10)
- Medium scenes with reefs, dolphins and treasure. Markers and glitter gel pens make the tails shine.
- Teens and adults
- Detailed pages with patterned scales, wavy hair and busy reefs. Try blending, metallic pens or an ocean palette of only blues and greens.
Coloring tips and color ideas
- Color the tail scales in rows: one row darker, the next lighter, so the tail looks like it shimmers.
- Fade the tail from one color to another, such as teal at the top to purple at the fin, for a magical look.
- Leave a thin white line on each scale or shell to make it look wet and shiny.
- Color the water last with light blue strokes, darker near the bottom of the page, and leave the bubbles white.
- Borrow colors from real reef fish: orange and white like a clownfish, or yellow and blue like a tang.
- Use a silver or gold gel pen on pearls, crowns and the edges of the fins.
Ideas for home, school and parties
- Mermaid birthday or pool party: set out pages, blue and green crayons and shell stickers, then hang the finished pages like a sea gallery.
- Ocean lesson: color a reef page, then label three real animals on it, such as a sea turtle, a crab and a clownfish.
- Beach trip: pack a few pages and pencils for the car or for a shady break under the umbrella.
- Story starter: color a mermaid, give her or him a name and write one sentence about an adventure under the sea.
- Turn your child into a mermaid: upload their photo and Coloriki makes a coloring page of them with a tail, or describe the scene, like "my daughter swimming with dolphins", and we draw it.
How to print mermaid coloring pages
- Open the page you like and press Print it. A PDF opens, sized for US Letter; the A4 PDF is next to it.
- In the print window choose "Fit to page" or 100% scale, and plain white paper. Thicker paper (100 to 120 gsm) is better for markers and paint.
- Print a few copies: kids like to try different colors on the same picture.
- Prefer screens? Press Color it online and color with a tap on a phone, tablet or computer.