Kangaroo Coloring Page

A sulphur-crested cockatoo looks on as a young kangaroo stands up tall and punches with its paws. During play fights, young kangaroos do not hurt one another.
Did you know that an adult grey kangaroo can jump 30 feet (9 meters) in a single bound and leap over a fence 9 feet (2.7 meters) high?  Its long, heavy tail keeps it from tipping forward as it hops. To jump, a kangaroo springs forward on its hind feet.  Inside each leg is a tendon, which acts like a large rubber band.  When the kangaroo lands, each leg bends, and the tendon stretches.  On the next forward leap, the tendon contracts as it snaps back to its resting position.  This pushes the kangaroo forward.
Click here for a downloadable coloring page.  You can find out more about kangaroos in my book A KANGAROO'S WORLD (Picture Window Books, 2008) and in KANGAROO (StarWalk Kids, 2013) downloadable to your Kindle.

BOOK SIGNING at KIDSPACE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM, Pasadena, CA

A week ago, on April 6th, at the KidSpace Museum in Pasadena, I had an enthusiastic crowd of kids and their parents, who came for my reading of Butterflies in Room 6. Everyone gathered in the Storyteller Studio in Roberts Pavilion--kids seated on a rug on the floor and parents on comfortable sofas.

After listening to the story, the kids watched my butterflies fly around in their netted cage, looked at them through a magnifying glass, and created their own butterfly artwork with coloring pages, while I answered questions and signed books.

Many thanks to Susan in the museum book store, Vince Dominguez, the floor manager, and the staff of the KidSpace museum, for organizing the event and selling my books! And thanks to my husband, Art, for taking the photos.

Looking at the butterflies through a magnifying glass. At home I raised painted lady butterflies from caterpillars and brought them to my presentation. After the butterflies emerged from their chrysalises, I gave them orange slices for food. (In nature, butterflies feed on flower nectar.) After my presentation at KidSpace, I released the butterflies in my backyard.

BOOK SIGNING of BUTTERFLIES IN ROOM 6 at Children’s Book World, Los Angeles, CA

This morning I had a fun book signing and storytime at Children’s Book World, a wonderful children’s bookstore in Los Angeles, California, not far from where I live. I had an enthusiastic crowd of children with their parents as well of some of my personal friends.

While we waited for the program to begin, children came up to the front to see the painted lady butterflies that I had grown from caterpillars and had brought in a netted enclosure. Most had come out of their chrysalises just a day or two ago. I had eleven butterflies flying around and feeding on orange slices. I explained to the children that the butterflies drink the orange juice through a long tube called a proboscis, which is something like having a built-in straw. In about a week I will let them go.

The program began at 10:30 with a reading of my new book BUTTERFLIES IN ROOM 6. Afterward Sharon passed out painted lady butterfly coloring sheets, drawing boards and crayons. Everyone was invited to take one of the butterfly cookies that I had brought. (Sugar cookies decorated with white and chocolate frosting and orange sprinkles.) While the children were coloring and eating cookies, I autographed books. It was a fun morning for all! Thank you Sharon and everyone at Children's Book World for helping me to promote my book and for making this a successful event!
And thanks also to my husband Art for taking the pictures!

JAGUAR: Coloring Page

In the Amazon rain forest, jaguars slip through shadows on silent paws. Their spots help them hide. When a jaguar gets close to its prey, it pounces and bites it with powerful jaws.

For a printable page with a drawing of a jaguar you can color, click HERE.

You can learn more about rain forest animals in my book A Day and Night in the Rain Forest.

Coloring Page: TOUCANS in the Amazon Rain Forest

Did you know that a toucan's loud call can be heard up to a half mile away in the Amazon rain forest? Toucans hop from branch to branch, looking for food. They find ripe fruit and pick it with their long bills.
For a printable picture of toucans that you can color, click HERE.

Read more about rain forest animals in A Day and Night in the Rain Forest.

Coloring Page: Desert 6:00 AM

Tap-tap, tap-tap! Tap-tap, tap-tap!
It is an early spring morning in the Sonoran desert. A Gila woodpecker drills a hole in a saguaro cactus. The tall plant will be a good place to build a nest. On the ground below, a coyote looks for a place to rest.
You can read more about plants and animals that live in the Sonoran Desert in my new book A Day and Night in the Desert. Find out which animals are awake during the day, and which animals are awake at night.

Click HERE to go to download the picture as a coloring page.

Black Bear Coloring Page

Black bears are North America’s most familiar and common bears. They typically live in forests, although they can also be found in more open areas. A mother bear gives birth to her cubs in late winter and by spring they are following her around as she searches for food. The cubs stay with their mother for a year or more. You can download a coloring page of a mother bear with her cubs HERE.
Find out more about black bears and other forest animals in my book A Day and Night in the Forest.

GILA MONSTER: Coloring Page

Here is a coloring page of a hungry Gila monster coming out of its desert burrow. It is looking for nests containing eggs or small animals to eat. The Gila monster kills its prey with a venomous bite and is the only venomous lizard that lives in the United States. Its bright colors warn predators to stay away. A Gila monster can live without food for up to one year by living on fat stored in its tail.
Two desert bighorn sheep are climbing a rocky slope in the background in this scene from the Sonoran Desert.
Click HERE to download the coloring page.
You can find out more about plants and animals that live in the Sonoran Desert in the Southwestern United States in my book  A Day and Night in the Desert.

AMAZING ANTLERS: Moose Coloring Page

In North America, moose live in Canada, Alaska, northern New England, the Rocky Mountains, northern Minnesota, and northern Michigan. Only male moose have antlers.  New antlers are grown and shed each year and each new set is bigger and heavier than the last.  The largest known moose antlers are 81 inches (2 meters) across and weigh 95 pounds (43 kilograms)!  No two sets of moose antlers are alike.
Antlers first appear in April as small bumps on the head. They are full grown by mid-August. They are the fastest growing bones of any mammal.
To download a coloring page of a male moose, click HERE.
You can learn more about moose in my book A MOOSE'S WORLD (Picture Window Books, 2010.)  Look for A Moose's World in your library.  Or look for the interactive e-book at http://www.capstonepub.com/library/products/moose-s-world-2/ .

WOMBAT Coloring Page

As darkness falls in Australia, a mother and baby wombat come out of their burrow.  They spend the night digging up grasses and roots to eat.  Soon the young wombat will be big enough to live on his own.
For a coloring page of a wombat on its nightly search for food, click here.
You can find out more about wombats in my book A WOMBAT'S WORLD (Picture Window Books, 2008.)  Look for the hardback book in your library.  The interactive e-book is available at http://www.capstonepub.com/library/products/wombat-s-world-2/ .

PLATYPUS Coloring Page

The platypus is one of the world's strangest mammals.  It has fur like a beaver, a bill and webbed feet like a duck, and, unlike all other mammals except the echidna, it lays eggs.  Found only in Australia, this elusive animal only comes out of its burrow at night.  Then it dives into a lake or stream to search for food.
To download a coloring page of a mother platypus and her two youngsters, click HERE.
You can learn more about platypuses in my book A PLATYPUS' WORLD (Picture Window Books, 2008.) Look for it in your library.  It is also available as an interactive e-book at http://www.capstonepub.com/product/9781404897618 .

BALD EAGLE AND EGGS Coloring Page

It's nesting time for bald eagles!  
Bald eagles usually lay two or three eggs in their nest.  The male and female take turns sitting on the nest to keep the eggs warm and moist.  Inside each egg an eagle chick is growing.  It hatches in about five weeks after the egg has been laid.
You can learn more about bald eagles in my book A BALD EAGLE'S WORLD (Picture Window Books, 2010.)
To download a coloring page of a bald eagle at the nest, click here.

UPDATE March 2015: Both nests on Catalina Island now have eggs, due to hatch around the beginning of April. You can watch activity at the nests on live video cams.

Young Authors at LA’s Best Have Fun with WIGGLE AND WAGGLE

Recently, I spent an hour with enthusiastic young authors grades one through five at the South Region #10 school in Los Angeles.  The class was part of the LA’s Best after school program offered at many schools. I showed slides, had the children act out the first story in Wiggle and Waggle using my sock puppets, taught them the Wiggle and Waggle song, and then after the slides were finished, the children colored pictures of Wiggle and Waggle while I read the other four stories in the book.  I was impressed by how colorful the children made their drawings and how each one used their own creativity to make their drawings different.

LA’s Best works with California Readers to bring authors like me to the schools.  I have been participating in the program for several years and always enjoy my visits with young authors.
Note:  A printable pdf of the Wiggle and Waggle coloring page can be downloaded at the Charlesbridge website.

KANGAROO COLORING PAGE

Kangaroos are giant leapers.  Did you know that an adult grey kangaroo can jump 30 feet (9 meters) in a single bound and leap over a fence 9 feet (2.7 meters) high?  Its long, heavy tail keeps it from tipping forward as it hops. To jump, a kangaroo springs forward on its hind feet.  Inside each leg is a tendon, which acts like a large rubber band.  When the kangaroo lands, each leg bends, and the tendon stretches.  On the next forward leap, the tendon contracts as it snaps back to its resting position.  This pushes the kangaroo forward.
Click here for a downloadable coloring page of a kangaroo.  A cockatoo is watching from a branch.  You can find out about kangaroos in my book A KANGAROO'S WORLD (Picture Window Books, 2008) and in KANGAROO (StarWalk Kids, 2013) downloadable to your Kindle.

WALRUS MOTHER AND BABY Coloring Page

A walrus mother has a baby, called a calf, about 15 months after mating. At birth, a walrus calf weighs 100 to 160 pounds (45 to 72 kilograms) and is about 4.5 feet (1.4 meters) long.  The calf is almost the size of a person!
You can learn more about walruses in my book A WALRUS' WORLD (Picture Window Books, 2010.)
To print a coloring page of a walrus mother and baby, click here.

Wiggle and Waggle Stick Puppets

Recently, I visited my granddaughter’s kindergarten class and read my book Wiggle and Waggle. The children all loved singing the “Digging Song” and afterward we made Wiggle and Waggle stick puppets. I was impressed by the creativity of the children in coloring the worms. Although a few of them made the worms brown (as I did in my samples, and the artist, Mary Peterson, did in the book), the rest made them all colors of the rainbow and a number of children chose to do stripes and patterns! I did the same project last weekend at StoryFaire in Santa Barbara, a wonderful day out-of-doors for children and their families celebrating books and the arts. You can download the stick puppet project and other fun activities (including a song, word search, coloring page, recipes and games for a wormy party, and more) HERE. Have fun making your own worm puppets and acting out the story! This activity is perfect for preschool and kindergarten age children.

Colorful Animals

Nobody ever said that animals have to have realistic colors! At a recent event, I set up a table with crayons, colored paper, scissors, glue and coloring pages from some of my animal books. Then I let the children free to use the materials as they liked. The picture above shows the ingenious use of the materials by Jossi and Laura, two nine year old girls. I love the way they let the shapes of the animals inspire the filling of the space and how they made patterns of colors and lines. The coloring pages for the koala and penguins can be downloaded from the book pages on my website. A Koala’s World and A Penguin’s World. Go to the project section of each page to click on the link. Have fun making your own creative and colorful animal art!

Polar Bear Coloring Page

I am starting to add downloadable coloring pages to my website, www.carolinearnold.com. Look on the page of my new book, A Polar Bear's World, for the link to a picture of a polar bear. The challenge will be to decide on colors to use for a white bear in a white landscape! Of course, there are many shades of white, with polar bears being a yellowish white and the surrounding snow being various shades of blueish white.
For more coloring pages and other projects go to A Panda's World and A Penguin's World.
You can preview A Polar Bear's World in this book trailer on YouTube.
Update, 2012:  You can also learn about polar bears and how they have been affected by global warming in my new book A Warmer World.