Airplane coloring pages

Free printable airplane coloring pages fly from smiling toy planes to a real cockpit.

These free printable airplane coloring pages run from a smiling toy plane a toddler can color in minutes to a pilot's cockpit packed with dials for adults. Many of the easy sheets have the word AIRPLANE in big letters to color too. Kids get jets, seaplanes, cargo planes and animal pilots. Teens and adults get busy airports, an air show and a patterned vintage plane, and seniors get calm, bold skies. There is also the story of the very first airplane flight, and tips for coloring a sky that looks real.

The friendliest planes are the best place to take off.

Easy airplane coloring pages for toddlers have big smiles and big letters.

The easiest sheets show one round, smiling plane with thick outlines. Start with the Simple Airplane, the Smiling Airplane or the Propeller Plane. The Chubby Airplane is the boldest of all, with wide spaces for a chunky crayon.

Preschoolers can try the Toy Airplane, the Plane and Cloud or the Biplane with its two sets of wings. The Helicopter is a fun change of shape. On most of these, the word AIRPLANE sits at the top in outline letters, so kids can color the letters while they learn the word. Soon they want planes with somewhere to go.

Airplane coloring pages for kids fill the sky with jets, seaplanes and pilots.

Kids love a plane with a job. The Cargo Plane opens its nose to load boxes. The Seaplane lands on the water with a splash. The Banner Plane tows a long banner over the beach, and the Jumbo Jet lifts off from a big runway. On the At the Airport sheet, planes line up by the control tower.

Pilots come in every shape. The Little Pilot waves from the cockpit, the Pilot Bear wears flying goggles, and the Animal Pilots are a bear and a bunny sharing one plane. For quick, cheerful pages, try the Jet Plane, the Paper Airplane, the Airplane Front View, the Glider or the Plane and Birds. The Flying over the City, Flying over Mountains and Plane and Balloons add a whole landscape below. Older colorers usually want more rivets and detail.

Detailed airplane coloring pages for teens and adults go from busy airports to the cockpit.

The Cockpit is the most detailed page, with rows of dials and switches in front of two pilot seats. The Busy Airport fills a whole apron with planes, fuel trucks and baggage carts. Above the Clouds shows a jet over a sea of clouds at sunrise. The Vintage Plane Zentangle covers an old propeller plane in tiny patterns.

The Air Show has five jets flying in formation with long smoke trails. In the Paper Plane Contest, kids race paper planes in a park. For a cozy mood, try Inside the Plane, the Plane Workshop or the Airport Cafe, and find more scenes like them among our cozy coloring pages. Quick bold pages include the Vintage Plane, Ready to Fly and Travel Plane. Open skies and bold lines also suit older colorers.

Airplane coloring pages for seniors keep the skies calm and the lines bold.

The Crop Duster flies low over rolling fields. The Evening Flight crosses a setting sun above the sea. The Seaplane Harbor shows seaplanes tied up at a lakeside dock.

The Early Flight shows an open biplane with the pilot sitting out in the wind, in the style of the first flying machines. It is a good starting point for talk about how flying began.

When did the first airplane fly?

The first powered airplane flew on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, which keeps the original Wright Flyer, records the details. Orville Wright was the pilot. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet.

Kids can color the Early Flight and the Jumbo Jet side by side to see how far flying has come in about 120 years. Coloring a jet well mostly comes down to the sky around it.

How do you color an airplane so it really looks like it is flying?

Color the sky first. Use a light blue near the ground and a deeper blue at the top of the page. Leave the clouds white, with a little gray on their undersides. A plane in front of a blended sky looks like it is moving.

Keep contrails and smoke trails white or pale gray, as on the Air Show sheet. Give a jet one bold stripe of color along its body, the way airlines paint their planes. Shade the underside of each wing a little darker than the top. Then the plane is ready for a real flight of its own.

Airplane coloring pages turn into paper flights, travel games and word practice.

Kids can fold a real paper plane after coloring the Paper Airplane sheet, then hold their own Paper Plane Contest. The letters on the easy sheets make simple word practice: find the A, then the P. Before a trip, the Ready to Fly suitcase and Inside the Plane help a young traveler know what to expect.

Colored planes also make a mobile. Print them on cardstock, cut them out and hang them from string. For a young traveler who also loves the water, our boat coloring pages are the next voyage.

From a smiling toy plane to a full cockpit, these free printable airplane coloring pages have a flight for every age. Pick an easy plane or a detailed airport, and color the sky first.