1. Tiered Christmas tree
Five scalloped tiers, each with two bands of pattern, a potted trunk and parcels. Flakes and sparkles fill the sky.
Free printable · Color online
Christmas tree coloring pages
Eight ways to draw a Christmas tree: two tiered trees with a band of pattern on every branch, a tree of triangles, a tree of overlapping scales, one built entirely from baubles, one folded from a single striped ribbon, three trees in a snowy grove, and a tree set in a stained glass window.
They run from bold and easy to detailed, and the level is marked under each one. Print them on letter paper, or tap Color on screen and fill them in here.
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. Tiered tree in bold lines
Four wide tiers with large shapes and heavy outlines. A good page for markers, crayons or anyone who prefers bigger spaces.
3. Tree of triangles
The whole tree is one triangle cut into small ones. Color them at random in three or four greens, or plan rows of color like a quilt.
4. Tree of scales
Rows of rounded scales overlap like pine cone bracts or shingles. Shading each scale darker at its top edge gives a layered look.
5. Tree made of baubles
No branches, only ornaments: dozens of baubles of different sizes packed into a tree shape, each decorated differently.
6. Ribbon tree
One ribbon folded back and forth, wider at every pass, with a bauble hanging from each fold. Alternate two colors along the ribbon.
7. Three trees in the snow
A small grove: three trees, each built a different way, standing in drifts under falling flakes.
8. Stained glass Christmas tree
A tree picked out in its own panes inside an arched window. Keep the tree panes green and let the window around it run through blues and golds.
A short history of the Christmas tree
Bringing an evergreen indoors and decorating it grew out of German custom. It spread widely in the 1800s, helped along by an 1848 engraving of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children standing round a decorated tree, which was reprinted on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the United States, President Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas Tree in Washington in 1923, and a tree has been lit there in most years since. Firs, spruces and pines are the usual choices, because they keep their needles and their shape through the season.
Before electric lights, trees were lit with small candles clipped to the branches, which is why older ornaments are shiny: glass and tinsel were there to catch the candlelight.
The lighting of the first National Christmas Tree in 1923 is described in the National Park Service’s history of the National Christmas Tree.
Color ideas for these pages
A tree does not have to be one green. On the tiered trees, try three greens from dark at the bottom to light at the top, and keep the pattern shapes in red, gold and white. On the tile trees, a checker of two greens with the odd tile left as an “ornament” in a bright color looks like a quilt.
The ribbon tree has no branches at all, so color the ribbon in two alternating colors, like a candy stick, and give each hanging bauble a color of its own. On the stained glass tree, cool blues and violets in the window make the green panes stand out.
Which page to start with
This set has 8 pages: 2 bold and easy, 5 medium and 1 detailed. The quickest to finish is “Stained glass Christmas tree,” with 90 areas to color, and the longest is “Three trees in the snow,” with 511. 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.