Koala Colouring Pages: A Free Printable and True Koala Facts

Looking for a koala colouring page your little one can actually enjoy? You can print our free koala page from the Sparkle Bay free colouring pages. It has bold outlines and one big picture, so small hands can colour it. Below you'll find true koala facts to share while you colour, colour ideas that match the real animal, and a few gentle koala activities for home or the classroom.

Get the free koala colouring page

The koala is one of five free pages in our sampler, along with a baby unicorn, a mermaid princess, a sea turtle and a baby dragon. It comes as one PDF, and you can print it as many times as you need: one for each child at the table, or a fresh copy when a page gets loved to pieces.

If your child loves the koala, it sits happily alongside the other animals in our Australian animals colouring pages post, which pairs ten native animals with a fact each.

True koala facts to share while you colour

A colouring page is a lovely, slow moment to chat. Sharing one fact as your child colours is easy, and it means the time teaches something true. Every fact here comes from a public source you can check.

Is a koala a bear?

No, though plenty of grown-ups still say "koala bear". The Australian Koala Foundation is clear that koalas are marsupials, not bears. Marsupials are the mammals that carry their babies in a pouch, like kangaroos. The Australian Museum says the koala's closest relatives are wombats, which makes a sweet link if you've already coloured a wombat from our Wombat Day activities.

What do koalas eat?

Gum leaves, and they're fussy about them. Koalas eat the leaves of certain eucalypts, plus some flowers and stems, according to the Australian Museum. Tourism Australia says they eat fewer than 50 of the more than 700 eucalypt species, and can get through up to a kilogram of leaves in a day.

They hardly ever drink from a puddle or a creek. Tourism Australia explains that koalas get most of their water from leaves and by licking rain as it runs down the bark. It also says the word "koala" is thought to come from a Darug word meaning "no water".

Why do koalas sleep so much?

This one always gets a giggle. Koalas sleep between 18 and 22 hours a day, says Tourism Australia, because gum leaves are low in nutrients and take a long time to digest, so resting saves energy. It's a nice fact to share at a sleepy time of day, too.

Koala joeys

A koala usually has one joey a year, and the joey stays in the pouch for about six months, according to the Australian Museum. When it's born, it's only about the size of a peanut, says Tourism Australia. Your child could draw a tiny joey peeking out of a pouch in the corner of the page.

What colour is a koala?

There's no wrong answer on a colouring page, and a rainbow koala is a joy. If your child wants theirs to look like the real thing, the Australian Museum describes koalas as having thick ash-grey fur, a white chest, a round head and fluffy ears.

A simple palette that works well:

• Grey for the body, pressed lightly so it stays soft
• White or left blank for the chest and inside the ears
• Black or dark brown for the big nose and eyes
• Greens for the gum leaves and branch
• Brown for the tree trunk

Koalas live in eucalypt forests across a patchy range from northern Queensland to southern Victoria and south-eastern South Australia, the Australian Museum says. So a background of tall gum trees is just right.

Gentle koala activities beyond colouring

Once the page is done, these quick ideas keep the koala conversation going. Each one starts from a true fact.

1. Thumbprint koalas. Tourism Australia says koala fingerprints are so like ours they're hard to tell apart, even under a microscope. Press a thumb onto a washable grey ink pad, print a few koala faces, then add ears, eyes and a nose with a marker.
2. Count the thumbs. Trace your child's hand, then talk about how koalas have two thumbs on each hand, according to Tourism Australia. Can your child draw a koala hand with two thumbs?
3. The sleepy clock. Draw a big circle and split it into 24 slices, one for each hour. Colour 20 slices in a sleepy blue to show how long a koala might sleep, since koalas sleep 18 to 22 hours a day (Tourism Australia). Leave the rest for eating.
4. Leaf sorting. On a walk, collect a handful of fallen leaves and sort them into "gum leaf" and "not a gum leaf". It's an easy way to talk about how fussy koalas are.
5. Joey in the pouch. Fold a small paper pocket onto the colouring page and tuck a peanut-sized paper joey inside. A sticky note works well.

For teachers: a ten-minute koala table

If you're using the page with a small group, this simple flow keeps things calm:

• Two minutes: hold up the page and ask, "Is a koala a bear?" Let everyone guess, then share the answer.
• Six minutes: colour quietly while you read out one fact at a time from the table above.
• Two minutes: each child shares one koala fact they remember, or points to their joey.

You can print a copy for every child from the free pages. For a story to follow, our list of picture books about Australian animals has eight to read together.

A gentle word on why koalas need care

Older children sometimes ask whether koalas are in trouble. The honest, gentle answer is that some are. Koalas in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT are listed as Endangered under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, according to the Australian Museum. For little ones, it's enough to say that people are working to look after koalas and the gum trees they need. Colouring a koala's forest home is a lovely way to talk about it.

Printing tips

• Choose "fit to page" in your print settings so the koala fills an A4 sheet.
• Use slightly thicker paper if you can. It stands up better to markers and lots of rubbing out.
• Crayons and chunky pencils suit toddlers. Fine markers suit older children who want neat whiskers and leaf veins.

Questions and answers

Where can I get a free koala colouring page? Our koala page is in the set of five free colouring pages. Print it as often as you like.

What colour is a koala? Ash-grey fur, a white chest, a round head and fluffy ears, says the Australian Museum. Any colour is fine for a playful page.

Is a koala a bear? No. Koalas are marsupials, not bears (Australian Koala Foundation), and their closest relatives are wombats.

How long do koalas sleep? Between 18 and 22 hours a day, according to Tourism Australia.

How big is a baby koala? About the size of a peanut when it's born (Tourism Australia), and it stays in the pouch for about six months.

Colour more Aussie animals together

If the koala goes down well, there's a whole book of friends to meet next. My First Australian Animals Coloring Adventure has one big, bold animal on every page, made for little hands. See My First Australian Animals, or start with the free colouring pages and print the koala today.

Sources

1. Australian Museum: Koala
2. Tourism Australia: 10 Fun Facts about Koalas
3. Australian Koala Foundation: About Koalas

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• Wombat Day Activities for Kids: Colouring, Facts and Books
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