Free Lioness Coloring Pages

A lioness is an adult female lion. She lives on the grasslands and open woodlands of Africa, in a family group called a pride, and unlike the male she has no mane. That is the first thing children notice, and it is a useful one: these pages are about the hunter of the pride, not the shaggy face on a crest or a cartoon. Lionesses do most of the hunting, often working together, which makes them a good subject for a lesson on teamwork as well as on big cats. The real colour is tawny gold or sandy brown, with a paler cream muzzle, chin and underbelly. That is a perfectly good way to colour these sheets. It is also fine to ignore it. A ginger lioness, a grey one, or a rainbow one is just as welcome. Point out that there is no mane to fill — the head is sleek — and that the tuft at the end of the tail is the one extra shape most children enjoy picking out in a darker brown or black. The seven designs get steadily harder. First is a chubby cartoon lioness sitting upright with big round eyes and a smile, thick outlines and wide open shapes that suit toddlers still learning to stay inside the lines. Then a close-up face with eyelashes and whisker dots, a playful stretch with the tail raised high, and a leaping lioness with one paw showing its pads. After that the drawings become more realistic: a lioness sleeping curled up with her tail wrapped around her, one lying down facing you with her front paws stretched out, and finally a sleek adult walking in profile, with whiskers and a long body, for children who like a careful, unfussy outline. Every sheet prints on landscape US Letter paper at 200 DPI, so the lioness fills the page without being cut off. Plain copier paper is fine for crayons and colored pencils. If you are using markers or paint, slightly thicker card stock stops the colour bleeding through. In the classroom these pages pair well with a lesson on African wildlife, on how a pride works, on the letter L, or on the difference between a lion and a lioness. The sitting cub is finished in a few minutes; the prowling walk can fill a quiet stretch of the afternoon. Print a few different designs and let each child pick the one that matches their patience that day. They also sit nicely next to the lion pages, so a mixed table can colour both and talk about which is which. The lion pages show the male with his mane, the cheetah the fastest cat on the same plain, the leopard sheets the spotted climber, and the animals index has the rest.