10 Ant Coloring Pages (Download Free Printable PDF)

My son Mike and I were in the backyard last week when he noticed a long line of ants marching across the grass. His green eyes wide with inquiry, “Dad, where are they going?” he questioned. That moment reminded me why I love introducing kids to the world of tiny creatures. Ants are fascinating! To help children learn about these industrious insects in an interesting and creative manner, I have produced free printable ant coloring pages (accessible in PDF below). Having taught private schools in the past and currently belonging to the GreenColoring community, I understand that coloring is more than just filling in spaces. It’s a fantastic tool for enhancing focus, creativity, and fine motor skills. And with ants, there’s a lot of exploration to do!

Why Coloring Ants is Great for Kids

Like young children cooperating on a school project or helping out at home, ants are team players. Coloring these microscopic organisms can inspire interest in patience, teamwork, and environmentalism. It’s also a screen-free game that keeps small hands occupied and stimulates their brain.

Safety Tips for Little Artists

When Mike colors, I always make sure:

• He uses non-toxic crayons or markers.
• The coloring space is well-lit and comfortable.
• We keep snacks away because no one wants a red crayon mistaken for a fruit snack!

Smart Coloring Tips

If your toddler enjoys color mixing, try this:

• To give ants a distinctive appearance use brown, red, or even purple. There are certain actual ants with these hues.
• Create a small universe around them reminiscent of a secret underground tunnel or a picnic scene.
• To create cool effects, dab colors with a sponge or cotton swab.

So, grab the free ant coloring pages below, and let’s bring these tiny adventurers to life with color!

Download Free Coloring Pages:

8 Crafts for Kids Using Ant Coloring Pages

Ants are fascinating little creatures, and kids love learning about them! If you have little ones who enjoy coloring, I have a fun way to take it to the next level. Using my free printable ant coloring pages in PDF format (which you can find just above this article), you and your kids can create amazing crafts while developing their fine motor skills. As a former private school teacher and now part of the GreenColoring community, I love turning simple activities into hands-on learning experiences for kids. My son Mike especially enjoys these projects, though sometimes he makes a mess, which keeps things interesting!

1. Ant Paper Puppets

Materials Needed:

• Printed ant coloring pages (from my free PDF collection above)
• Scissors
• Glue or tape
• Popsicle sticks or straws
• Markers or crayons

Steps:

1. Print the ant coloring pages first, then let your child select their favorite design. Lisa always chooses the most beautiful ones; Mike goes for the largest ants since he finds them to resemble superheroes.
2. Using crayons or markers, have your youngster color every ant. Suggest interesting colors—like a rainbow ant or a golden queen ant—to inspire inventiveness. Declaring it his “jungle explorer ant,” Mike made a green ant last time.
3. Cut out every ant carefully once the coloring is finished. Should your child still be learning to use scissors, gently guide their hand. Lisa shows Mike patience and big-sister techniques, often helping him with this part.
4. Glue the cut-out ant to the top of a popsicle stick or straw. Hold it for a few seconds to check it’s sticking correctly.
5. Before using the puppets for storytelling, let them dry totally. Urge children to design their own adventure. Lisa and Mike acted out ants looking for the “Great Sugar Treasure” one wet afternoon. It amused me greatly.

Fun Tip: Make puppet shows much more interesting by building a little stage out of a shoebox. Children find it great! For more ideas on creating puppet shows, visit Youtube.com.

2. Ant Finger Puppets

Materials Needed:

• Ant coloring pages
• Scissors
• Double-sided tape or glue
• Small paper loops

Steps:

1. Using the free coloring pages above, print and color tiny ants. This is a perfect moment to let youngsters show their artistic side. I always encourage Lisa and Mike to use different shades and even add tiny details like spots or stripes.
2. Take great care cutting out the ants. Should your child find difficulty, take your time using safety scissors.
3. Cut out tiny, one-inch-wide, long enough paper strips to wrap around a finger. For a strong hold, use building paper.
4. Taping or gluing the ends of every paper strip together creates loops. Make sure their fit on small fingers is comfortable.
5. Cut an ant out of each loop to create lovely finger puppets.
6. Let children arrange them on their fingers to make interesting ant narratives. Mike delighted in acting as his ants ascended imagined sugar mountains in the kitchen.

Pro Tip: On little hands, the puppets feel softer and last longer if you use felt rather than paper! For more creative puppet-making ideas, check out PBS.org.

3. Ant-Inspired Crown

Materials Needed:

• Printable ant coloring pages
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Tape or glue

Steps:

1. Print and color the ant pages; then, cut several ants to embellish the crown.
2. Cut a long strip of construction paper broad enough to form the crown’s foundation.
3. For a whimsical look, arrange the ants on the strip either randomly or in a pattern using glue.
4. Before gluing or tape-securing the strip, measure your child’s head and change its length.
5. Let children dress in their ant crowns and act as the king or queen of an ant kingdom once they are done! Lisa and Mike once planned a royal conference between the “King of Green Ants” and the “Queen of Pink Ants.” It was charming!

Fun Tip: To give the ants even more expression, add small googly eyes!

4. Ant-Themed Greeting Cards

Materials Needed:

• Printable ant coloring pages
• Cardstock or construction paper
• Glue
• Markers

Steps:

1. To make a greeting card base, fold a piece of cardstock in half. Bright colors help us to make the cards more joyful.
2. Glue a colored ant you cut out onto the front of the card. Young children should be encouraged to be creative with placement; Lisa once created an ant carrying a small paper leaf!
3. Let children add fun notes inside the card. I usually advise writing something upbeat. Once Lisa penned, “You’re as strong as an ant!” on a card for her grandfather, he grinned.
4. To personalize the card, embellish it with stickers, glitter, or extra drawings. Mike enjoys adding little footprints to give the ants a marching appearance.
5. Present the card to a friend or relative for a lovely surprise. Seeing their responses always makes the effort valuable!

Pro Tip: For relatives and teachers, these make fantastic thank-you notes!

5. Ant Storyboard

Materials Needed:

• Ant coloring pages
• Scissors
• Glue
• A large poster board

Steps:

1. From the free coloring pages, print, cut out, and color several ants. Use several colors to provide your storyboard some variation. Mike likes conventional black ants; Lisa likes to make her ants vibrant.
2. Set them up on a big poster board to depict a narrative scene. Here is when imagination takes front stage! Lisa once created a narrative whereby ants constructed a castle, and Mike concluded his ants were covert agents on a covert operation.
3. Add tunnels, bridges, and little homes to inspire children to design an adventure. Allow them to narrate their own interpretation of the next events. It’s a terrific approach to increase imagination.
4. For the ants to negotiate, sketch paths, tunnels, and fun challenges using markers. While Lisa created a “danger zone” with imagined spiderwebs, Mike once built a massive hill the ants had to climb to access their picnic food!
5. Have children tell their story aloud when the storyboard is complete. While Mike enjoys creating ridiculous sound effects for the ants marching, Lisa becomes theatrical in her narrative.

Fun Tip: Give the ants speech bubbles and create a comic-style narrative from there. It’s a fantastic approach to mix art with narrative!

6. Ant Mobile for Room Décor

Materials Needed:

• Printable ant coloring pages
• String or yarn
• A small stick or hanger
• Hole puncher

Steps:

1. From the pages, print, color, and cut several ants. Children should be encouraged to play about with several colors and designs. Wanting a “queen ant theme,” Lisa once created small crowns on her ants.
2. Punctuate a hole at the top of every ant. Take great care not to punch too near the edge so the hole doesn’t rip. Mike discovered this the hard way when one of his plants dropped midway across the hanging platform!
3. Through every hole, thread a string and fasten them tightly. Allow children to change the lengths so the ants hang at different heights. Lisa likes a staggered appearance, but Mike prefers them all even.
4. To build the mobile, tie the strings to a hanger or stick. This is the entertaining part! It looked fantastic when we once used a tree branch for a nature-inspired design.
5. Hang the mobile close to a window to let the ants seem to “march in the air.” It seems as though they are truly moving when one watches them swing with the wind!

Pro Tip: Some of the ants should be painted glow-in-the-dark so they would illuminate at night. Mike kept his phone close to his bed and loved this concept!

7. Ant Maze Game

Materials Needed:

• Printable ant coloring pages
• A large piece of cardboard
• Glue
• Markers
• Small buttons or beads

Steps:

1. Lay a coloring page on a thick piece of cardboard. Make sure it’s centered such that you have room to sketch a maze around it.
2. Draw a maze with meandering paths leading to various food sources, such as sugar cubes, leaves, or picnic crumbs, using a marker. While Mike enjoys creating “dead ends” just to mess about, Lisa enjoys adding challenging turns!
3. As game pieces, use buttons, small beads, or little toy ants. Every player selects an ant to navigate the maze.
4. Challenge children to identify the fastest path to the food! We set it as a race with a timer; Lisa usually wins, but Mike insists his ants are “training” to be faster the next time.
5. Add challenges like cotton ball “rocks” or paper “spiderwebs” if you wish it to be more difficult. Lisa enjoys including a rule requiring ants to avoid raindrops and small blue beads in order to reach home safely.

If your children enjoy puzzles, make several mazes and trade them for a never-ending challenge!

8. Ant Handprint Art

Materials Needed:

• Ant coloring pages
• Paint (washable)
• Construction paper
• Markers

Steps:

1. To make an ant body, have children dip their palms in paint and press them onto building paper. Be ready for laughs and a little mess; last time, Mike apparently got paint all over his elbow, and we still don’t know how!
2. To create an interesting, interactive scene from the printables, cut out and glue colored ants around the handprint. Lisa likes to give her aunts a parade-like marching appearance.
3. Add legs, antennae, and minute features with markers. Let children explore several ways of expression. Lisa made one ant seem sleepy, and Mike looked shocked!
4. Show the handprint artwork on the refrigerator or frame as a keepsake once dry. Particularly when considering how small those tiny hands were, these create wonderful memory pieces!

Safety Tip: Always paint in non-toxic, washable colors. Store baby wipes close for quick clean-ups.

Above you have eight interesting crafts using my free printable ant coloring pages! Along with being enjoyable, these activities boost children’s fine motor coordination, creativity, and ability to solve problems. Tell me whether you try any of these crafts; I find it fascinating how creatively young people bring their ideas to life!