Four free Mariano coloring pages, and we won't ask for your email
Here are four free coloring pages starring Mariano the French bulldog puppy, ready to download as PDFs with no email required. Print one, grab some crayons and you are done. They are detailed, so for ages 3 to 5 we suggest coloring them together and choosing big shapes first.
The rainy afternoon problem
It is raining, the snacks are gone, and someone has asked “what can we do?” for the fourth time. You search for something to print, and ten minutes later you are typing your email into a form, closing a pop up, and watching the moment pass. The child has already found the markers and the wall.
Or you teach a class, and you need something for the end of the morning, printed in a hurry, that does not require an account.
The four pages
Click, save and print. Each is a single page.
- Birthday party: Mariano in a party hat, with a cake, balloons and presents.
- Cow and windmill: Mariano beside a cow, with a windmill and flowers.
- In Japan: Mariano with sushi and chopsticks, lanterns and a lucky cat.
- Halloween: Mariano in a jack o’ lantern, with bats, ghosts and a crescent moon.
An honest note about the age
These pages are busy. A CDC milestone for age 3 is drawing a circle when you show how, and holding a crayon between fingers and thumb appears at age 4. So a 3 year old will probably not fill in the tiny leaves, and does not need to. Treat the page like a big scene to explore. Older preschoolers may enjoy hunting for details.
How to make it work
- Pick one thing. “Let’s only do Mariano’s ears.” One shape is a win.
- Share the page. You take the small parts, they take the big ones.
- Tell the story of the picture. Whose birthday is it? Who is the cake for? Why is Mariano in that pumpkin?
- Change the plan if it goes wrong. If a page ends in tears, get down to their level and acknowledge it first. The psychiatrist Daniel Siegel and the psychotherapist Tina Bryson explain that connection comes before redirection: first your face, voice and touch, then the words. The application to coloring is ours.
- In class, print one page per child and let each choose a single part to start with. There is no need for all of them to look alike.
Why it is free
Because we would like you to meet Mariano before anyone asks you for anything. There is no form and no catch. If your child falls for him, there are two full books on our home page: a birthday party in Volume 1 and a trip to Japan with a lucky cat in Volume 2. If you only ever want the free pages, that is fine too.
Today
Print the Halloween page and ask your child: “What is Mariano doing in that pumpkin?” Write down the answer on the back of the page, and keep it. In a year it will be fun to read together.