Holidays & Celebrations coloring pages

The days a family actually marks on the calendar. Christmas is well covered — a tree, a wreath, a stocking, a waving elf, Santa himself — but so is most of the rest of the year: a jack-o'-lantern and a black cat for Halloween, an Easter basket and bunny in spring, a turkey and a cornucopia for Thanksgiving, hearts and a cupid for Valentine's, shamrocks and a pot of gold for St. Patrick's Day, a diya and a rangoli pattern for Diwali, a dragon dance for Lunar New Year, and eagles and fireworks for the Fourth of July.

Alongside the calendar holidays sit the days that belong to one family rather than everyone: a birthday hat and a present, a graduation cap, a tiered wedding cake, a clock striking midnight on New Year's Eve. Difficulty runs from bold, thick-lined shapes a two year old can fill in to busier scenes with real detail, so the same occasion usually has something for an older sibling too. Printing the matching page a few days before the day itself is the easiest way to give a small child a way into what is coming — a child who has colored a cornucopia has something to say about it at the table.