Reading Under the Handprint Tree (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
Coloring guide
Three kids sit at the foot of a big tree, each with an open book. The boy on the left, in a short-sleeved shirt and sneakers, sits cross-legged. The girl in the middle wears a headband and smiles down at her book, legs crossed. On the right, a curly-haired boy in a hooded top and sneakers sits with his knees bent. The branches overhead are full of leaves, and many of them are shaped like open hand prints. Roots spread across the ground with small tufts of grass nearby, and the thick trunk has lots of bark lines to fill in. Warm browns and tans suit the trunk and roots, and the handprint leaves can be a mix of skin tones and greens. It makes a good quiet reading-time activity or a classroom Martin Luther King Jr. Day lesson on friendship and togetherness, and it's free to print. Add this to your Martin Luther King Jr. Day coloring page collection, alongside Christmas and Halloween.
A gentle color plan to get started — mix in your own anytime.
- bark brown
- golden yellow
- denim blue
- apple green
- red
- forest green
- dark brown
- peach skin
- light gray
- navy blue
- royal blue
- orange
A suggested order, zone by zone — skip around as you like.
- 1Start with the tree trunk and its roots in bark brown, then fill the large branches with the same color.
- 2Color all the handprint shapes on the tree golden yellow, leaving the small ones on the edges for the end if you want a lighter touch.
- 3Fill the leaves with forest green, apple green and lime green, leaving the leaves that stay white unpainted for contrast.
- 4Color the children's clothes: sky blue shirt on the left, red shirt on the right, and denim blue jeans for all three kids, plus navy blue on the left kid's pants and shoe.
- 5Add the books in royal blue, orange and red, then color the faces peach skin and the hair in chocolate brown, dark brown, or leave the eyes and the book pages white.
- 6Optional: Add light gray or medium gray shading on the branches and a little olive on the small branch for depth.
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