Trace & color
Trace Then Color: Cartoon Christmas Characters
For little hands still building pencil control.
Best for ages 3 to 5
- Dotted outlines to trace, then color in
- No drawing experience needed
- Ages 3+
For teachers
Christmas drawing activities for the classroom
28 free Christmas drawing sheets sorted by grade, a 30-minute directed drawing lesson and a grid drawing lesson that practices coordinates. Every sheet is a free PDF with no sign-up, drawn by cartoonist Kevin Coulston.
PreK and kindergarten
Trace, then color
Children follow a dotted outline, so everyone finishes with a recognizable picture. Good for pencil grip and control.
Grades 1 and 2
Draw it step by step
Directed drawing in six small steps. Project the sheet or draw each step on the board, and the class adds one step at a time.
DrawStep-by-step lesson · PDF + JPGHow to draw a candy cane
DrawStep-by-step lesson · PDF + JPGHow to draw hot cocoa
DrawStep-by-step lesson · PDF + JPGHow to draw a cute snowman
DrawStep-by-step lesson · PDF + JPGHow to draw an elf
DrawStep-by-step lesson · PDF + JPGHow to draw Santa Claus
DrawStep-by-step lesson · PDF + JPGHow to draw Mrs. Claus
Grades 2 to 4
Copy it square by square
Grid drawing: pupils copy one labeled square at a time. It practices careful looking, proportion and grid coordinates like C4.
Every grade
Draw your own
Kevin drew the outline and the children invent the rest. Good for early finishers and for talking about ideas.
Lesson plan
A 30-minute directed drawing lesson
Works with any of the step-by-step sheets. The candy cane and hot cocoa are the easiest to start with.
5 minutes
Warm up
Draw circles, ovals, triangles and wavy lines on scrap paper. Point out that every Christmas character is made of these shapes.
15 minutes
Draw together
Show step 1 of a lesson sheet and give the class time to copy it. Then show step 2 and say what is new. Keep going to step 6. Draw along on the board.
7 minutes
Make it theirs
Pupils color the drawing and add a background: snow, a fireplace, a sky full of stars.
3 minutes
Share
Hold the drawings up together. Ask what is the same and what is different about everyone’s elf or snowman.
A grid drawing lesson that practices coordinates
- Give each pupil the reference page and the blank grid, printed at the same size.
- Show how squares are named: the letter is the column and the number is the row, so C4 is column C, row 4.
- Pupils copy one square at a time, watching where each line enters and leaves the square.
- Start with the present or the candy cane, which have the simplest lines. Fast finishers can try Santa or the yeti.
Early finishers
Hand out a draw-your-own sheet, or let them decorate a stocking or a snowman face in the Christmas drawing tool on a tablet or the whiteboard.
Class party?
The Christmas art station plan sets up three tables for mixed ages. For a daily routine through December, use the 24-day drawing countdown.
Questions teachers ask
Can I photocopy the sheets for my class?
Yes. Print or photocopy as many copies as you need for your own class. To share them with other teachers, please link to this page instead of sending the files.
What do pupils need?
A pencil and an eraser for the drawing, and crayons, colored pencils or markers for coloring. Grid drawing works best with a sharp pencil.
Can we do it on the interactive whiteboard?
Yes. Open a lesson sheet on the board and reveal one step at a time, or use the free Christmas drawing tool, which works with a finger or a stylus on a touch screen.
Is there one PDF with everything?
Yes. The activity pack has all 28 sheets in one PDF, and the countdown pack has one sheet for each day from December 1 to 24, with a calendar for the classroom wall.
Sheets drawn by Kevin CoulstonCartoonist, member of the National Cartoonists Society, and author and illustrator of more than 100 books for kids. About Kevin
For the class shelf
The three Christmas books
Fifty activities in each, for wet play and fast finishers all December.
- Each character built in 6 easy steps
- A page to practice after every lesson
- Ages 5+
- Copy one square at a time onto a grid
- Surprisingly accurate results
- Ages 5+, great for older kids too
