DoodleGrove December Coloring Pages: 31 Days of Free Printables to Count Down to Christmas
December is the longest countdown of the year, and free December coloring pages are an easy way to mark it. The month opens with the first real snow, fills with gingerbread and candy canes, brings Santa and his elves into the workshop, lands on Christmas, and finishes with penguins and snowmen on New Year’s Eve. One sheet after breakfast or before bed, and by the 31st you have a whole book of winter.
Below is a December coloring calendar with 31 pages, one for every day, grouped into five themed stretches: snow, gingerbread and treats, Santa and the elves, Christmas week, and winter animals. Every page is free to print with no sign-up and no email, and each one comes as its own US Letter and A4 PDF. Click a page name to jump straight to it in its collection, and print one a day or the whole month at once.
The December coloring calendar
December 1, 2026 falls on a Tuesday, so these are five themed stretches rather than tidy Sunday-to-Saturday weeks. The label beside each page is the same Easy, Medium or Detailed level you see on the site, so you can match the day to how much time and patience you have.
| Day | Coloring page | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Tue, Dec 1 | Snowflakes Big and Small | Easy |
| Wed, Dec 2 | Simple Snowflake | Easy |
| Thu, Dec 3 | Hello Winter Snowflakes | Easy |
| Fri, Dec 4 | Snow Globe Cottage | Easy |
| Sat, Dec 5 | Crystal Snowflake | Detailed |
| Sun, Dec 6 | Fox on a Sled | Medium |
| Mon, Dec 7 | Snowflake Mittens | Medium |
| Tue, Dec 8 | Classic Gingerbread Man | Easy |
| Wed, Dec 9 | Gingerbread Family | Medium |
| Thu, Dec 10 | Lollipop Roof Gingerbread House | Medium |
| Fri, Dec 11 | Candy Canes with Holly | Easy |
| Sat, Dec 12 | Candy Cane Village | Medium |
| Sun, Dec 13 | Tray of Gingerbread Cookies | Medium |
| Mon, Dec 14 | Hot Cocoa with a Candy Cane | Easy |
| Tue, Dec 15 | Ho Ho Ho Santa Face | Easy |
| Wed, Dec 16 | Elf Workshop | Detailed |
| Thu, Dec 17 | Elf Building a Toy Train | Medium |
| Fri, Dec 18 | Santa’s Sleigh | Medium |
| Sat, Dec 19 | Elf Wrapping a Present | Medium |
| Sun, Dec 20 | Santa by the Fireplace | Detailed |
| Mon, Dec 21 | Decorated Christmas Tree | Medium |
| Tue, Dec 22 | Reindeer Pulling a Sleigh of Presents | Detailed |
| Wed, Dec 23 | Christmas Friends | Detailed |
| Thu, Dec 24 | Santa on the Rooftop | Medium |
| Fri, Dec 25 | Christmas with Santa and a Snowman | Detailed |
| Sat, Dec 26 | Reindeer Family | Medium |
| Sun, Dec 27 | Merry Christmas Bells | Medium |
| Mon, Dec 28 | Penguin and an Igloo | Easy |
| Tue, Dec 29 | Classic Snowman | Easy |
| Wed, Dec 30 | Penguin Family | Easy |
| Thu, Dec 31 | Happy New Year Snowman | Medium |
Too hard or too easy for your kids? Every page in the calendar comes from a set of twenty to forty pages on the same theme, so you can trade any day for a page at the right level. The stretch sections below point out good swaps.
Snow and snowflakes: December 1 to 7
The month starts quiet and cold. Most of the first week is snowflakes, and most of those pages are Easy: one big shape, wide spaces and only a few small parts, which is just right for younger kids still warming up after November. Begin with Snowflakes Big and Small and talk about how no two real flakes are alike, so every one on the page can be colored a little differently.
Midweek brings a page with a little more going on. The Snow Globe Cottage on Friday is a whole winter scene tucked inside a glass globe, so a child can color the cottage, the pine trees and the swirling snow inside, then leave the glass and the base pale to look like real glass.
Saturday’s Crystal Snowflake is the one Detailed page of the week, a lacy flake with many thin arms for older kids and adults who like a slow, careful page. If it is too much for a little one, swap it for Simple Snowflake or Smiling Snowflake from the same set.
Gingerbread and sweet treats: December 8 to 14
The second stretch smells like the kitchen. It mixes gingerbread people, a gingerbread house and candy canes, and most of the pages are Easy or Medium, so the whole family can color together. Start the week with the Classic Gingerbread Man, then meet the whole Gingerbread Family the next day: a gingerbread dad, a gingerbread mom with a bow and a little gingerbread child, with candy canes and stars behind them. Let each child color one of the three and sign it.
The Candy Cane Village on Saturday is the showpiece of the week. Two giant candy canes frame a small snowy village of cottages and pine trees along a winding path, so there is plenty to color and plenty of white snow to leave alone. It pairs well with real candy canes and a mug of cocoa.
Want an easier week for toddlers? The gingerbread and candy cane sets both have plenty of single-figure Easy pages, like Hot Cocoa with a Candy Cane and Candy Canes with Holly, that finish in one sitting.
Santa and the elves: December 15 to 20
Now the countdown picks up. This stretch moves between Santa himself and the elves busy in the workshop. Open with the Ho Ho Ho Santa Face, one of the easiest pages in the whole month, a big friendly face with a hat and beard and little else, so even the youngest colorer can finish it proudly.
Midweek is for the workshop. The Elf Building a Toy Train on Thursday shows an elf at a table putting together a little wooden train, with a round snowflake window behind. It is a good page to color while you talk about what a child hopes to give someone else this year, not only what they want to get.
The two Detailed pages here, Elf Workshop and Santa by the Fireplace, are better for older kids and adults who want to sit with a page for a while. Younger children can take the Santa’s Sleigh or Elf Wrapping a Present pages instead.
Christmas week: December 21 to 27
This is the heart of the month. The week builds toward the big day: a decorated tree to start, a reindeer sleigh full of gifts, Santa climbing a rooftop on Christmas Eve, and a full Christmas scene for the 25th. Start by coloring the Decorated Christmas Tree, and if your own tree is up, try to match the colors of the ornaments at home.
Save Christmas with Santa and a Snowman for the 25th itself. It is a Detailed page with a lot to color, which makes it a calm thing to hand a child while the morning gets busy. If you would rather have something quick that day, the Santa on the Rooftop page is lighter. For hands-on ideas beyond coloring this week, Christmas Activities for Kids has twelve, from paper ornaments to a letter to the North Pole.
Winter animals to ring out the year: December 28 to 31
The last few days are quieter, after the rush of Christmas and before the new year. The theme turns to cold-weather animals. The Penguin and an Igloo page on the 28th is a cheerful little penguin standing beside a round igloo under two big snowflakes, an Easy page for small hands.
Finish the year with a Classic Snowman, a whole Penguin Family and, on New Year’s Eve, a Happy New Year Snowman holding up the new year. However you use the calendar, here are a few ways to make the most of it:
- Make it an advent countdown. Print the whole month on December 1, clip the 31 pages in order, and color the top one each day. The stack shrinks as Christmas gets closer.
- Or print one stretch at a time. Seven pages is a short stack for the fridge, and you can swap pages as you go.
- Use it for morning work. Teachers can hand out the day’s page as students arrive. It is quiet, it takes ten minutes and it follows the calendar on the wall.
- Keep a sticker chart. Put the table above on the fridge and add a sticker for every finished page.
- Color on a screen. Every page can also be colored online in a web browser, which is handy on a holiday trip.
A few printing tips: pick US Letter in the US and Canada and A4 almost everywhere else, print at 100% rather than “fit to page”, and print in grayscale because the pages are black line art. The printing guide has more.
Frequently asked questions
How do I turn the December calendar into an advent countdown?
Print the whole month on December 1 and clip the 31 pages together in order, or peg them to a string across a wall. Color the top page each day and move it to the back. By Christmas morning you are near the end of the stack, and by New Year’s Eve the book is finished and full of color.
What if we do not celebrate Christmas in December?
Plenty of the pages are about winter, not the holiday: snowflakes, a snow globe cottage, penguins, a snowman and a fox on a sled all work for any December. Skip the days you would rather not use and swap in another snowflake or penguin page from the same set. The calendar is a starting point, not a rule.
Can I print the whole month as one coloring book?
Yes. Print all 31 pages, add a colored cover and staple the left edge, and you have a December coloring book a child can work through at their own pace. The Hello Winter Snowflakes page makes a simple cover.
The first of December is a Tuesday, so the weeks do not line up with mine. Does that matter?
Not at all. The five stretches are grouped by theme, not by the days of the week, so you can start any page on any day. If you miss a day, color two the next day or just carry on. Nothing here has to be done on a set date except, perhaps, the Christmas page on the 25th.
More December coloring pages
All 31 days come from these winter and Christmas sets. Each one has many more pages on the same theme, so you can swap any day for a page at the right level:
- Snowflake Coloring Pages: single flakes, snow globes and cozy winter scenes (more than 35 pages)
- Gingerbread Man Coloring Pages: gingerbread people, cookies and friends (more than 30 pages)
- Gingerbread House Coloring Pages: candy cottages and peppermint roofs (more than 25 pages)
- Candy Cane Coloring Pages: candy canes, villages and hot cocoa (more than 25 pages)
- Santa Claus Coloring Pages: Santa faces, sleighs and the nice list (more than 25 pages)
- Elf Coloring Pages: elves in the workshop, baking and wrapping gifts (more than 40 pages)
- Christmas Coloring Pages: Santa, sweaters, presents and whole scenes (more than 35 pages)
- Christmas Tree Coloring Pages: decorated trees, ornaments and lights (more than 35 pages)
- Reindeer Coloring Pages: reindeer in scarves, sleighs and the snow (more than 35 pages)
- Snowman Coloring Pages: classic snowmen, families and winter fun (more than 30 pages)
- Penguin Coloring Pages: penguins with igloos, fish and friends (more than 20 pages)
Happy coloring, and have a wonderful December.
Hung designs T-shirt artwork for a living and prints coloring pages for his own kids at home. Every page on DoodleGrove is prepared for print the same way he prepares work for his clients.