Owl in a Tree Hollow Colouring Page

This owl sits square in the middle of its tree hollow, gripping the bottom rim of the oval opening with two clawed feet. Its face is dominated by two enormous round eyes, each with a dark pupil and a bright highlight, set either side of a small pointed beak, with two little triangular ear tufts on top. The wings are folded flat against the body, and the belly is marked with three wavy, scalloped rows of feathers stacked one under the other. Behind the owl, the tree trunk fills the rest of the page, its edges dotted with small oval bark marks, and two leaves with simple centre veins sprout from short twigs at the top right and bottom left corners.

Most of what a child colours here is generous and rounded: the owl's body, the wings, the trunk itself. That makes it a good page for a child who is still colouring in broad scribbles rather than tight strokes. The eyes, the wavy belly lines and the little bark ovals give slightly smaller, self-contained shapes to fill in once the big areas are done, without ever asking for fine control. It is also an easy page to talk over while colouring: why the owl's eyes are so big, whether it is asleep or awake, what colour the leaves should be next to the bark.

Next to other sheets in this woodland set, this one sits on the easier end. There is only one main character and one setting, the lines are thick, and the bark and leaf details are few enough not to slow a young colourer down. It works well for a three or four year old colouring largely unaided, and for a two year old with a grown-up naming the eyes, feet and leaves along the way.