Animals Tracing and Coloring Book: Free Printable Workbook (PDF)
A free 37-page workbook with twenty-eight animals sorted into farm and pets, garden creatures, and wild and water animals. Your child colors each animal, traces its name and writes it alone, then reviews with matching games and word-tracing pages. Download the PDF in US Letter or A4 and print it at home or in class.
Download the Animals Tracing and Coloring Book
- 37 pages for ages 3–6
- Free for home and classroom use, with no sign-up or email address
- Two PDF files: US Letter (8.5 × 11 in) and A4
- Prints in black and white or in color
Print at 100% (Actual size). Choose US Letter in the United States and Canada, and A4 almost everywhere else. How to print a workbook
Who this workbook is for
Animals are the topic young children ask about most, so this workbook borrows that interest and turns it into handwriting practice. It is for ages 3 to 6: younger children can color and trace the big word, while older ones write the name alone and finish the word games.
Pages are grouped by where the animal lives, which makes natural conversations about farms, gardens and oceans. The book works well beside the Fruits and Vegetables Tracing and Coloring Book, which uses the same layout for food words, and for beginning readers the CVC Words Workbook has short words such as cat, dog, pig and hen with their own pictures.
What is inside the Animals Tracing and Coloring Book
The workbook has 37 pages. Every page is numbered in the bottom corner, so you can print one section at a time.
| Pages | Section | Number of pages |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Cover, a page for parents and teachers, and the contents | 3 |
| 4–11 | Farm and Pets | 8 |
| 12–19 | Garden Creatures | 8 |
| 20–31 | Wild and Water Animals | 12 |
| 32–36 | Animal Games | 5 |
| 37 | Certificate of achievement | 1 |
Farm and Pets (pages 4–11)
Eight familiar animals: cow, pig, sheep, hen, duck, cat, dog and rabbit. Each page has a big outline picture to color, the name in solid letters beside a dotted copy, three more dotted copies and two empty lines to write the word alone. Most of these names are short (cow, pig, hen, cat, dog), so this is the best section to begin with.
Garden Creatures (pages 12–19)
Eight small animals you can find in a yard or a park: bee, butterfly, ant, ladybug, snail, spider, caterpillar and frog. The section mixes insects with a spider, a snail and a frog, which opens the door to talking about how living things are grouped. Caterpillar is a long word that you can break into cat-er-pil-lar.
Wild and Water Animals (pages 20–31)
Twelve animals from jungles, forests, poles and oceans: lion, monkey, bear, panda, elephant, zebra, penguin, whale, turtle, fish, owl and fox. This is the longest section and has the longest words, such as elephant and penguin, so it suits children who are already comfortable with the earlier pages.
Animal Games (pages 32–36)
Five review pages. Two shadow matching pages join each colored animal to its dark shadow, and a picture matching page pairs identical animals. Two word-tracing pages follow with five words each: cat, dog, fish, bird and frog on the first, and pig, cow, duck, hen and sheep on the second. Each word is shown in light gray to trace and then written again alone.
Sample pages
A few pages from the finished workbook. The PDF is sharp enough to print at full size.
Skills your child practices
- Reading and spelling animal names
- Tracing and writing lowercase words on lined paper
- Coloring inside outlines for hand control
- Matching pictures with shadows and twins
- Sorting animals by where they live
How to use this workbook
Print a section at a time
Choose US Letter or A4 and print at 100% (Actual size). Print Farm and Pets first (the contents table shows the page numbers) and add the other sections over time.
Make the animal sound
Moo, oink, buzz or roar before you write the word. Sound and movement help children remember a name and make the page more fun.
Color and talk
Ask where the animal lives, what it eats and how it moves. Let your child decide the colors, including unusual ones.
Trace, then write it alone
Start at the solid word and follow the dotted copies from left to right. The two empty lines are for writing the word without help.
Finish with a game
The matching pages are a good break when little hands are tired, and they are quick to check together.
Sorting animals into groups
The sections group animals by home, but children enjoy sorting them in other ways too: animals with two legs and four legs, animals that swim and animals that fly, or animals that lay eggs. A hen, a duck, a penguin and an owl are all birds, and a whale is a mammal, not a fish. A short chat like this adds science vocabulary to the handwriting.
For children who like animals and are ready for a bit more reading, ask them to write one sentence about a favorite animal on the back of a page. The guide on Handwriting Practice at Home: How Long and How Often has simple ideas for turning practice pages into everyday writing.
Free worksheet generators to go with this workbook
Every page in the workbook was made with the same tools you can use yourself. Use them to print extra practice with your own words, names or numbers.
Word Tracing
Trace any list of words, one word per line.
Shadow Matching
Join each picture to its shadow: 4 to 10 pairs.
Picture Matching
Match identical pictures or things that go together.
Visual Discrimination
Spot the odd one out, find the match, same or different.
Beginning Sounds
Picture questions: which picture starts with B?
Guides for parents and teachers
Shadow Matching Activities for Preschoolers
What shadow matching is, the skills it builds and eight easy shadow matching activities for preschoolers, from printable sheets to flashlight play.
How to Teach Syllables to Preschool and Kindergarten Children
How to teach syllables to young children: the clap and chin methods, a 4-step plan from names to long words, word lists for 1 to 4 syllables and games.
Handwriting Practice at Home: How Long and How Often
Handwriting practice at home: how long and how often for ages 3 to 6, a 10-minute routine, setup tips and the signs that it is time to stop.
More free printable workbooks
Fruits and Vegetables Tracing and Coloring Book
Color 26 fruits and vegetables, trace each word and write it alone, then review with matching games.
ABC Tracing Book
Every letter A to Z with numbered stroke arrows, a picture to color and a word to trace.
CVC Words Workbook
Read, build, trace and write short a, e, i, o and u words with pictures, sound boxes and sentences.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Animals Tracing and Coloring Book free?
Yes. It is free for home and classroom use and needs no sign-up. Print as many copies as you need for your own children or students. Please do not sell the file or host it on another website.
Which animals are in the book?
Twenty-eight animals: cow, pig, sheep, hen, duck, cat, dog, rabbit, bee, butterfly, ant, ladybug, snail, spider, caterpillar, frog, lion, monkey, bear, panda, elephant, zebra, penguin, whale, turtle, fish, owl and fox.
Is the book only for preschoolers?
The coloring and tracing pages suit ages 3 to 5, and the empty writing lines and word-tracing pages give children up to age 6 more to do. Older children who are learning English can also use the book to practice animal vocabulary.
My child loves one animal that is not included. What can I do?
Use our word tracing worksheets to make a tracing page for any animal name, and let your child draw the picture in the space above the lines.
Can I print only one section?
Yes. Open the PDF, choose a page range in the print window and print only the section you need. The contents table above shows where each section starts.