1. Crossed candy canes
Two canes crossed into a heart shape and tied with a wide bow, with seven peppermints around them.
Free printable · Color online
Candy cane coloring pages
Six pages of candy canes and peppermints: two canes crossed and tied with a bow, a bold version of the same, a patterned jar holding four canes, three canes standing in a row, a stocking with a cane tucked in the top, and a page packed with peppermints, lollipops and wrapped sweets.
The stripes are drawn the way they wind on the real thing: one wide stripe, then narrower ones, slanting round the stick. Print the pages on letter paper or color them on screen.
Each page prints on one sheet of US letter paper. Under every page are buttons to print just that one, to color it on screen, or to save it as a picture.
2. Crossed canes in bold lines
Thicker canes with wider stripes and heavy outlines.
3. A jar of candy canes
Four canes fanned out of a patterned jar, with peppermints and wrapped sweets around it.
4. Three candy canes
Three tall canes side by side, each with a bow. Each one has a different stripe width.
5. Stocking with a candy cane
A large knitted stocking with a cane and a sprig of holly in the top.
6. Peppermints and sweets
A whole page of peppermint rounds, star candies and wrapped sweets, packed edge to edge.
About the candy cane
The candy cane is a stick of hard peppermint candy with a hook at one end. Stories about where the hook came from are mostly legend. What is better documented is that plain white sugar sticks are much older than the stripes: striped canes begin to show up on American Christmas cards in the early 1900s.
For a long time each cane was bent by hand while the candy was still warm, and many broke. In the 1950s Gregory Keller, a Catholic priest, invented a machine that bent them automatically for his brother-in-law Bob McCormack’s candy company in Albany, Georgia, and the candy cane became something every store could stock.
Color ideas for these pages
Red and white is the classic, and the white is free: color only the wide stripe and one of the narrow ones. Green and red together make the other traditional cane. For a softer page, try pink and mint.
Peppermint rounds are colored the same way, every other wedge. On the page of sweets, pick five or six colors and repeat them, so the wrapped candies look like they came out of one bag.
Which page to start with
This set has 6 pages: 2 bold and easy, 3 medium and 1 detailed. The quickest to finish is “Crossed canes in bold lines,” with 79 areas to color, and the longest is “Stocking with a candy cane,” with 242. Bold and easy pages have heavy lines and large shapes that suit markers and tired eyes; detailed pages have fine lines for sharp pencils or gel pens.
How printing, saving and coloring on screen work is explained on the coloring pages home. If you like filling shapes by number, Linseed Loft Color by Number is a free paint by number game with 74 pictures.