Water Buffalo Coloring Page

This water buffalo stands facing slightly sideways, looking out at the viewer with big round eyes, raised eyebrows and a wide smile. A tuft of hair sticks up between two enormous curved horns that sweep out and up on either side of its head, and two floppy ears hang down just below them. Its body is one large rounded shape on four sturdy legs, and its tail curls down behind with a little tuft at the tip. Under each hoof sits a small oval puddle, drawn as a simple ring, four of them lined up along the bottom of the page.

The appeal here is the size of the shapes. The body, the horns and the puddle rings are all big, open spaces a young child can color with a few confident strokes rather than careful dabbing, which makes this a good page for practicing how to hold inside a line without getting frustrated. The face has a bit more going on, with two eyes, two nostril dots and a mouth to pick out in a different color, so there's still something for a child who wants a bit more to do. It's also an easy page to talk about while coloring: how big those horns are, why the buffalo might be standing in puddles, whether its tail curls the same way both times.

Because most of the page is made up of large, uncluttered shapes, this suits younger colorers well, including children who are still working on staying inside the lines. It's a calmer, less fiddly sheet than pages packed with small background detail, so it works well as a first attempt or a quick one before nap time.