What to Print From August Through July
Planning a year of classroom coloring in advance saves a lot of Sunday-night scrambling. This month-by-month calendar maps the school year, from August through July, to the themes and holiday hubs on this site. It's written with a U.S. school calendar in mind, so adjust for your own region and traditions. Not every classroom celebrates every holiday, so skip what doesn't fit and keep what does.
How to use the calendar
Print once a month, not once a week. On the last Friday of each month, spend 15 minutes choosing pages for the next one. Print 1.5 times your class size for each page so you have spares, and keep them in a labeled folder. By the end of September you'll have a rhythm, and by midyear you'll have a stock of pages you can reuse next year.
Pair seasonal pages with everyday ones. A holiday page is a treat, but a steady diet of them gets old. Keep animals, vehicles, and letters in rotation as the base, and layer seasonal themes on top. Our guide for teachers explains how to build the routines these pages fit into.
August and September: back to school
The first weeks are about routines, names, and getting to know each other. Coloring helps because everyone can do it, so it's a gentle way to settle a new group.
- Use the back to school classroom page and the school bus page as first-week welcome activities.
- Start the alphabet pages for younger grades, beginning with the letters in students' names.
- Print a few animal pages as early finisher options.
- In late September, space and dinosaur pages fit well with early science units.
October: fall and Halloween
October brings costumes, candy, and wound-up kids. Coloring is a calm outlet when energy runs high.
- The Halloween hub has friendly options like pumpkins, cats, and ghosts. Choose the sillier, less scary pages for younger classes.
- Many schools skip Halloween for various reasons. If yours does, use fall themes like leaves, apples, and harvest animals instead. The fruit pages are a good fit for an apple or harvest week.
- Run a "color the pumpkin" station on the day of a class party to keep waiting kids busy.
November: gratitude and Thanksgiving
November is short in many schools, with a break at the end. It's a good month for classroom gratitude projects.
- The Thanksgiving hub offers harvest tables, turkeys, and autumn scenes.
- Pair a page with a sentence starter: "I am thankful for ___." Younger kids can dictate, older kids can write.
- Hang finished pages as a bulletin board display or a paper chain.
- Veterans Day on November 11 is a good moment to connect with a local community helper discussion, with the emergency vehicle pages fitting a helpers unit.
December: winter and Christmas
December is the hardest month to hold attention, and coloring earns its keep.
- The Christmas hub is large, with trees, snowmen, reindeer, and gingerbread houses. Many pages are winter-themed rather than religious, so they suit general winter units.
- The nativity pages fit church groups, Sunday school, and families who celebrate the religious holiday.
- Offer a mix so every child finds something that fits. Not all families celebrate Christmas, and a general "winter" option keeps the activity inclusive.
- Use coloring for the last days before break, when schedules loosen and tempers shorten.
January: new year and winter
The return from break needs a gentle restart. Coloring is a good re-entry activity.
- The new year pages work for goal-setting. Ask kids to color a page and write one thing they want to learn this year.
- Snowy days call for cozy scenes. See our snow day guide and the cozy pages for comfortable winter options.
- Use animals that handle winter, like polar bears and penguins, for science units on habitats.
February: friendship and Valentine's Day
February is about cards, friends, and classroom parties.
- The Valentine's Day hub has hearts, cards, and friendly scenes that suit young children.
- Print pages kids can color and give away as cards. Folded in half, a page becomes a card.
- Pair with kindness lessons: color a page, then write a compliment on the back for a classmate.
March: spring and St. Patrick's Day
March tends to run long without a break, and attention drifts.
- The St. Patrick's Day hub offers shamrocks and rainbows for mid-March.
- Spring is a good time to start the flower pages alongside plant science units.
- Rain-themed or indoor-friendly pages come in handy for the changeable weather. Our rainy day guide has ideas.
April: Easter and Earth Day
April brings spring break in many districts and plenty of nature units.
- The Easter hub covers bunnies, eggs, and baskets. Print them for the week before break.
- For Earth Day on April 22, pick nature and animal pages. The animal hub and flower pages fit well, and the Earth globe page suits a planet lesson.
- Move some coloring outdoors on nice days. Our outdoor coloring guide covers how.
May: Mother's Day and Memorial Day
May is busy with testing, field days, and the countdown to summer.
- The Mother's Day pages make easy gifts. Remember that some children don't live with their mothers. Offer the option to make a card for any special person.
- The Memorial Day pages fit a short lesson on the holiday, if you cover it before school lets out.
- Keep calm-down options ready for testing weeks.
June: Father's Day and summer start
Schools that run into June need low-prep activities, since everyone is tired.
- The Father's Day pages work similarly to Mother's Day. Offer a "grown-up who cares for me" option.
- The summer pages are perfect for end-of-year folders. Send a stack home with each child as summer practice.
- Pull out the vehicle pages for road trip kits.
July: Independence Day and summer programs
For summer camps, library programs, and families:
- The Independence Day hub has flags, fireworks, and historical scenes.
- Summer programs can rotate through animals, vehicles, and summer pages for a full session.
- Use heat-friendly activities. Crayons melt, so keep supplies indoors.
Keeping the folder organized
A calendar only helps if you can find the pages when the month arrives. A simple system works for most rooms. Label twelve folders by month, or use one accordion file with a tab per month. As you print a batch, drop the spares in the matching folder, along with a sticky note listing which pages were a hit.
At the end of the year, flip through the folders and toss anything that flopped. Next August you'll start with a trimmed, tested stack instead of a blank slate. If you teach more than one grade, add a second note about which pages suited the younger group and which suited the older one.
Remember to leave a few empty weeks. Testing windows, field trips, and snow days will eat some of your plan, and an unused page keeps just fine in the folder until next time.
A planning shortcut
If a full calendar feels like too much, pick just one holiday per season and print a few extra from the holiday hub. Even four themed batches a year give your room a lift. Browse the full list of guides when you're ready to add more routines, and remember that all pages are free to print for classroom use.