Last Updated on June 19, 2026 by Dee
Hand a child a watercolour set and a blank page and you’ll usually get thirty seconds of excitement followed by “I don’t know what to paint.” Hand them a template with big bold outlines instead, and something magic happens — the fear disappears, the brush dives in, and suddenly there’s a dripping rainbow on your kitchen table and a very proud small artist beside it.
That’s exactly what this post is for. I’ve drawn 10 easy watercolor templates for kids — a rainbow, a watermelon slice, a smiling sun, a friendly fish, a sailboat, a balloon bunch, an ice cream cone, a butterfly, a sandcastle and a melty popsicle — every one with extra-thick outlines and big open sections made for little brushes and pooling paint. Below the form you’ll also find a summer’s worth of activity ideas built around each page. (I have an older post with general watercolor project tutorials for kids — this one is different: it’s a printable template pack plus ready-to-run summer activities.)
Get Your Free Watercolor Templates for Kids
Pop your email below and the full 14-page printable pack — cover, how-to-use page, all 10 templates and a thank-you page — lands straight in your inbox as both a print-everything PDF and individual PNG pages. Print on regular paper for crayons and pencils, or heavier paper for proper wet painting.
Download the free Easy Watercolor Projects for Kids 👇
Table of Contents
Why Watercolor Is the Perfect First Paint for Kids
Quick answer: watercolour is washable, forgiving and almost impossible to get “wrong.” The paint moves and blooms on its own, so even a wobbly first attempt looks dreamy — and templates with thick outlines give kids a structure to aim for without demanding drawing skills first.
When I taught primary art classes, watercolour was always the medium that surprised parents most. They expected chaos (fair) and got focus instead. There’s something about watching wet colour spread inside a shape that makes children slow down. The water does half the work, the pigment does the rest, and the child gets to feel like a painter rather than someone fighting a crayon.
The templates in this pack are drawn specifically for that experience. Every shape is a big enclosed section — wide rainbow bands, giant ice cream scoops, balloon ovals the size of a small fist — so a loaded kids’ brush can pool paint inside without constantly crossing lines. The outlines are extra-thick on purpose: they stay visible under the wettest wash and quietly forgive every overshoot. If your kids enjoyed my summer drawing ideas, this is the painting-day sequel.
What’s Inside the Free Template Pack
The pack is 14 pages — 10 templates plus a cover, a how-to-use page, a little note about my Patreon for families who want a new pack every month, and a thank-you page. Every template prints cleanly on A4 (US Letter works too, you’ll just get slightly bigger margins).
- Rainbow with Clouds — five wide arc bands, each its own paint pool, with puffy clouds at the ends
- Watermelon Slice — one giant wedge with chunky seeds and flying juice drops
- Smiling Sun — a happy face ringed by twelve chunky rays, one colour per ray if you like
- Friendly Fish — big body, big fins, rising bubbles, one very cheerful eye
- Sailboat — two triangle sails and a banana-curve hull on gentle waves
- Balloon Bunch — five balloons tied with a bow: five pools for five different colours
- Ice Cream Cone — three drippy stacked scoops on a criss-cross waffle cone, cherry on top
- Butterfly — big symmetric wings made for mirror-colour experiments
- Sandcastle with Flag — three towers, an arched door and a seashell by the base
- Popsicle with Drips — a two-colour lolly mid-melt, drips included
The 10 Easy Watercolor Projects (One per Template)
Quick answer: each template doubles as a mini painting lesson — wet-on-wet blending, colour mixing, symmetry, texture — disguised as a fun summer picture. Here’s how I’d run each one, roughly easiest first.
1. Rainbow with Clouds — the wet-on-wet classic
Brush clean water inside one arc band, then touch a loaded brush of colour to it and watch the paint travel. One band per colour, clouds left white (or dabbed with a tissue for fluff). This is the page that teaches kids the single most magical thing about watercolour — that the water does the painting.
2. Smiling Sun — one colour, many values
Paint the face circle in pale watery yellow, then make each ray a little stronger and oranger as you go around. It quietly teaches what “more pigment, less water” does — and an all-yellow painting still looks gloriously sunny on the fridge.
3. Watermelon Slice — first brush control
One big pink-red wash for the flesh (paint around the seeds, or paint over them and re-dot later with a dark pencil), then the two green rind bands. The wedge is huge on purpose — it’s a confidence page.
4. Balloon Bunch — colour mixing practice
Five balloons, but only give your child the three primaries. Red balloon, yellow balloon, blue balloon — then they have to mix orange and purple for the last two. It’s a colour-wheel lesson smuggled inside a party picture.
5. Friendly Fish — blends and bubbles
Wet the whole body, drop in two blues (or blue and green) and let them merge. The bubbles are brush-control practice: three careful circles, painted around or left white. A drop of clean water flicked onto the damp fish makes a perfect “scale bloom.”
6. Sailboat — warm vs cool
Warm colours for the sails and hull, cool blues for the wavy water lines. Talk about why the boat “glows” against the sea — that’s a real composition principle, age five edition.
7. Ice Cream Cone — three flavours, one drippy edge
Each scoop gets a “flavour” — strawberry pink, mint green, vanilla left white — and the scalloped bottoms are allowed to drip into each other while damp. The criss-cross cone is lovely slow brushwork for older kids.
8. Butterfly — the symmetry game
The wings are perfectly mirrored, so set one rule: whatever you paint on the left wing, repeat on the right. Matching sides turns the page into a memory-and-planning exercise — and a lopsided result is still a beautiful butterfly.
9. Sandcastle with Flag — texture day
Paint the towers in sandy yellow, then — while the paint is still wet — sprinkle a pinch of table salt over them. As it dries, the salt pulls the pigment into a speckled, genuinely sand-like texture. Brush the salt off once bone dry. Kids treat this as a magic trick because it is one.
10. Popsicle with Drips — the gradient finale
Two colours, one melt line: paint the top section, paint the bottom section, then nudge them together while wet so they blend at the wavy boundary. The drips get painted last with the strongest colour. Pairs suspiciously well with eating an actual popsicle.
What You Actually Need (Not Much)
A children’s pan set, a chunky brush and printer paper will absolutely do for a first session — don’t let supplies be the reason you don’t start. That said, three small upgrades make a big difference if painting becomes a regular thing.
A Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolour set is my pick for a family paint box — real artist pigments that rewet instantly, so colours come out bright instead of chalky (kids notice, and it lasts years). Pentel Aquash water brushes hold water in the handle, which means no water jar — and no water jar means no flooded kitchen table and genuinely portable painting (car trips, cafés, grandma’s house). And if you want the wet-on-wet projects to behave properly, print the templates on a Canson XL watercolour pad fed through the printer’s manual tray — the paper drinks the water instead of buckling.
This post contains affiliate links — if you grab something through one of them I earn a tiny commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend supplies I genuinely use myself.
5 Tips for Painting with Kids (From a Former Art Teacher)
Quick answer: tape the page down, two brushes per child, accept the mess before it happens, stop while it’s still fun, and display everything.
- Tape the corners down. Masking tape on all four corners stops the page chasing the brush — and peels off to leave a crisp white border that makes any painting look framed.
- One brush for water, one for paint. The single biggest upgrade to kids’ watercolour results, and it costs nothing.
- Lay a towel, not newspaper. A folded old towel under the page absorbs spills AND stops the cheap-paper wrinkle. Newspaper just redistributes the puddle.
- End on a win. One template per session is plenty for under-sixes. Stopping while it’s still fun is what makes them ask to paint again tomorrow.
- Display everything. A clothes-peg string in the hallway turns ten templates into a summer gallery — and the pride of seeing their work hung is worth more than any technique tip.
Want a New Printable Pack Every Month?
If these templates earn their keep this summer, the Artsydee Patreon is where I share a brand-new printable pack every single month — drawing templates, watercolour sets, sketchbook prompts and seasonal kits, plus the full back-catalogue and monthly tutorials. It’s a cosy corner of the internet full of people quietly making things.
The Tier 2 Creatives Treasure Chest is £8/month (about $10) and keeps a family art habit very well fed. Have a peek at what’s inside → Prefer to own things outright? My Payhip shop has standalone template sets and kits too.
Frequently Asked Questions
What ages are these watercolor templates for?
Roughly 3–10, with the sweet spot at 4–8. Toddlers can finger-paint the big single shapes (sun, watermelon, popsicle), while older kids get real technique practice from the butterfly symmetry, the sandcastle salt texture and the cone’s criss-cross pattern. Honestly, the adults at the table usually end up painting one too.
Do I need special paper?
For crayons, pencils and light painting, regular printer paper is fine. For proper wet watercolour, print on cardstock or a watercolour pad through your printer’s manual feed — the page will take much more water without wrinkling. The thick outlines stay bold either way.
How is this different from your other watercolor-for-kids post?
My earlier watercolor projects post is a general tutorial round-up — techniques and project ideas you set up yourself. This post is the printable version: a ready-to-go template pack where the drawing is already done, plus a specific activity for each page. If you want zero-prep painting afternoons, start here; if your kids are ready to paint without outlines, the older post is the natural next step.
Can I use these in my classroom, nursery or holiday club?
Yes — print as many copies as you need for the children in your care. The rainbow and sun pages are reliable whole-class wins, and the balloon bunch makes a lovely colour-mixing lesson. Just don’t resell the files or claim them as your own work.
Final Thoughts
Pick one template for this weekend. The rainbow if your kids are new to watercolour, the sandcastle if they’d enjoy the salt trick, the popsicle if it’s hot and you want a painting-then-eating double feature. Print it, tape it down, and let the water do the work.
You can find me on Pinterest for daily drawing and painting inspiration, and on YouTube for slow-paced sketching and watercolour tutorials.
You Might Also Like
- Easy Watercolor Projects for Kids (Tutorial Round-Up)
- Summer Drawing Ideas (Free Templates Included)
- Ice Cream Cone Templates (Free Printables)
- Easy Watercolor Practice Ideas for Absolute Beginners
- How to Paint a Watercolor Sunset (Free Templates)
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