10 best colouring books to help kids get creative this summer

Our testers loved everything about this small but beautifully illustrated colouring book, which is part of the Usborne Unworry Book range. Aimed at helping children relax and unwind, this book is filled with mindful colouring activities, from colouring repeated patterns to sketching, doodling, experimenting with different shading techniques and choosing colours to express their emotions.

Each page offers a unique colouring experience, with engaging illustrations providing just the right amount of detail to hold our testers’ attention. Thanks to the thick, high-quality paper, a variety of colouring tools could be used, including felt tip pens, without any bleeding through to the other side.

While some people may prefer to keep their kids’ colouring activity completely screen-free, we love the inclusion of QR codes on several pages, which lead to mindful music to accompany the colouring.

It may be relatively simple in terms of concept, but this book certainly raised a smile from our younger tester. With a real positive feel throughout, each page features bold designs and happy, cheerful characters – everything from smiling sunflowers to fluttering butterflies. There’s also a small amount of text on each page, ideal for reading with an adult, to add context and storytelling to kids’ creations.

There’s an impressive 96 pages, and younger children will love the simple outlines that provide the freedom to practise their pen control, while parents will love the thick quality paper, so pens won’t leak through the pages.

Overall, a great all-rounder for younger children – it’s one our seven-year-old reached for time and time again – with an affordable price point to boot.

We loved the portable design of this pocket-sized colouring book, which is perfect for popping in your bag as entertainment when travelling, at restaurants or in waiting rooms. While this particular edition has a unicorn theme, there are plenty of other options to choose from in the range – including everything from bees and butterflies to koalas and kawaii.

Despite its compact size, this colouring book has more than 100 pages, alternating between bolder illustrations and incredibly detailed designs. It’s worth noting that, while our mini testers loved the overall theme, both struggled with the level of detail on the left-hand pages, requiring fine liners to colour them effectively. Despite this, we felt this colouring book offered excellent value for money, with a strong binding and thick, high-quality paper.

This is a colouring book with a difference. Presented in a beautiful A5 hardback binder, it contains thick cardboard pages with 20 foiled designs to colour and create.

Our testers loved popping out the shiny characters from the pages and bringing them to life with markers, before slotting them together to create cute three-dimensional decorations. While younger children may need some assistance, we were impressed with our testers’ attention to detail, continuously flipping their designs to ensure the colours were consistent on both sides.

We loved the adorable narwhal and mermaid designs in this particular set, however, you’ll also find other themes in the range, including unicorns, dinosaurs and several seasonal editions. A big plus point is that, once all the pages are empty, you can use them as stencils, to help continue the creative fun.

With large, age-appropriate illustrations and an educational alphabet theme throughout, this 24-page colouring book is a great choice for preschool children.

The bold designs are engaging and easy to decorate, even for children still mastering their pen control and the art of colouring inside the lines. Each design is then combined with a group of corresponding letters to trace, providing plenty of practice for your child’s letter recognition and handwriting technique.

Our tester loved the wide variety of illustrations in this book, as well as decorating each page with matching stickers, once the colouring was complete. While it has fewer pages than some other colouring books on our list, it offers excellent value for money overall, making learning fun at a budget-friendly price.

With oversized pages that are large enough for siblings to colour side by side, this pad offers ample entertainment for rainy days, doubling up as a creative place mat to occupy the kids while they’re waiting for their dinner.

There are 50 pages packed full of animal designs, and we loved the quality of the premium white bond paper, which we were able to easily tear out without ripping. Our testers were able to use a wide range of colouring tools, including markers and felt tip pens, without any bleeding through to the other side.

While younger children may prefer more animated designs, our testers loved the illustrations in this nature-themed pad. You’ll also find a variety of other themes in the Melissa & Doug range, including vehicles, ‘pink’ and ‘blue’.

Part of Nosy Crow’s collaboration with the National Trust, this large colouring book of cards and envelopes makes a unique and thoughtful gift for children who love nature and animals. We found the illustrations in this colouring book quite simply stunning - with every page bursting with intricate designs of woodland animals, flowers, butterflies and birds. 

Colouring in is just the beginning, however. Inside, children can find everything they need to create and colour 24 double-sided cards and coordinating envelopes, before folding along the pre-scored lines and using the included stickers to seal – a great way to add a personal touch when sending letters to relatives.

Our testers loved the creative side of this set, preferring to use crayons and watercolours, due to the level of detail. While it's recommended for children aged 4-8 years, it’s fair to say our younger tester lacked the patience required to finish the entire design, as each one requires considerable effort. On the flip side, our older tester enjoyed chipping away at regular intervals until all the elements were complete. You may even find yourself tempted to colour a little of this one.

If you grew up in the 1980s or 1990s, chances are a colour-by-numbers set made an appearance at some point during your childhood. Using a key to guide creativity, colouring by numbers is a calm and mindful activity that can relax and entertain, while teaching children important life skills, such as following instructions and the importance of attention to detail.

Our mini testers loved the 25 stunning illustrations in this book, with majestic mammals and beautiful birds brought to life by a bold and vivid colour palette. The kids really enjoyed choosing their pens and pencils at the start of each piece, matching the shades to the clearly marked key at the base of each page.

Our only gripe is we wish some of the backgrounds had been left blank, as colouring large areas with one colour often felt like a bit of a mammoth task. Mini perfectionists may also feel frustrated that some numbers are still visible even after the design is complete.

If cute characters are high up on their wish list, you can’t go far wrong with the A Million colouring book range from Lulu Mayo – particularly the most recent release: A Million Puppies.

Recommended for children aged six and above, each of the 64 pages features an adorable scene that’s absolutely full to the brim with ‘paw-some’ puppies – everything from cute corgis to dotty dalmatians. Our testers really enjoyed experimenting with different shading techniques, in an attempt to create the illusion of texture and fur, and the thick paper certainly didn’t disappoint.

We loved the full-page spreads and high level of detail in this book, including stunning patterns and fun florals. It also definitely lived up to its cute credentials, with our testers regularly pausing to highlight another cute character they’d found nestled among the pages.

If the thought of bringing out felt tip pens is enough to break you out in a cold sweat, this on-the-go colouring book could make a great alternative – with no pens, paints or crayons required.

Well suited to travel, this portable, spiral-bound board book features eight hidden fairy-tale scenes, each brought to life using the water pen and red lens that are conveniently stored on the cover.

While they appear to be simple line drawings when dry, our younger tester loved filling the chunky water pen with the tap, before running it across the pages to see colourful scenes appear right before her eyes. While she found it slightly less appealing, the red lens ‘magnifying glass’ also makes a fun addition, with several ‘silly things’ to spot on the pages.

While we did notice slight curling of the pages when wet, each scene dries relatively quickly, fading away, so it’s ready to be reused over and over again. One little tip from us, however: stick to using cold water, as the transformations are much slower when the water is warm.