8 Cute FREE Printable Bookmarks to Colour (for Kids & Adults!)

Foster your child’s love of reading with these adorable hand-drawn bookmarks that you can print at home and colour in with pencils, markers or crayons! The PDF bookmarks are perfect for kids, students and adults—or even as a handmade gift for a book-loving friend or relative!

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Looking for the printable? Simply scroll down and request it using the sign-up form!

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Did anyone else get really excited when their kids became old enough to read chapter books?!

It’s not that I don’t enjoy reading picture books and short stories with them. Ever since I started staying home with our kids, we’ve been reading two to three books at nap time and another two to three at bedtime, and we’ve had some wonderful moments reading together.

But there are only so many times you can sound out the names of fruits and vegetables, or recount the adventures of the PAW Patrol, without longing for something a little more intellectually stimulating.

So now that we have two preschoolers at home, I’ve been having a great time diving back into some of the books I read as a child!

We’ve been reading a few of Roald Dahl’s novels lately and my five-year-old has been completely entranced. Every night, she asks, “Please Mommy, just one more chapter?” and I absolutely love it.

I can’t wait to rediscover some of the other novels from my past with her!

And because we can’t possibly read an entire novel every night, we’ve started using bookmarks to mark the page. So my kids were thrilled when I decided to create a set of bookmarks that they could colour in themselves!

They were all hand-drawn by yours truly, and I’m so thrilled to share them with you so that you can get your kids excited about reading chapter books too! (Or so you can have a relaxing time colouring them in yourself—which I certainly did when I was getting ready to write this article.)

So if you’re looking for cute printable bookmarks to colour, scroll down to find out how to download them and how to protect them so that they can last you for years without getting damaged.

You can even use them as thoughtful homemade gifts for the book lovers in your life!

About this Printable

The PDF download consists of 2 pages, each of which contains 4 different bookmark designs. It includes:

• 1 fall leaf bookmark
• 1 “I Heart Books” bookmark
• 1 butterfly bookmark
• 1 Valentine’s Day bookmark with hearts and roses
• 1 beach-themed bookmark
• 1 abstract geometric bookmark
• 1 whimsical candy-themed bookmark
• 1 ocean-themed bookmark

The designs are suitable for children, but also intricate enough for adults to enjoy.

The day after I finished making them, I printed two sets for my five-year-old and myself, and we had fun sitting at the table colouring them together while her younger siblings were napping!

Each bookmark measures 2” x 6”, which is a pretty standard size for bookmarks. We used coloured pencils to colour ours, but you can also use markers, crayons or whatever else you have on hand!

We also chose to laminate our bookmarks to make them more durable. If that’s something you might be interested in, be sure to scroll down to find out more!

How to Download Your Free Colour-In Bookmarks

In order to download these free printable bookmarks to your phone or computer, you’ll need to request them using the form below. (There is another form at the bottom of the article if you’d rather keep reading to find out how to use and preserve the bookmarks.)

Once you have requested the bookmarks, simply confirm your subscription to our mailing list using the link in your inbox to receive your printable colouring bookmark PDF as a free gift. You should be redirected to the download as soon as you click the confirmation button!

How to Use & Preserve the Bookmarks

1. Print on Paper or Cardstock

Once you’ve requested and downloaded the file, open it on your phone or computer and print it on Letter-sized paper or cardstock.

If you are planning on laminating your bookmarks like we did (see below for more details), choose whichever option works best for you.

Cardstock is thicker and won’t let the ink bleed through to the other side, but we printed ours on regular printer paper and the plastic was enough to protect our designs.

If you aren’t planning on laminating your bookmarks, you should use cardstock. Regular printer paper is too flimsy to be used on its own, and it would be a shame to spend all that time colouring in the images only to have the bookmarks ruined after one use.

(Note: If you’re planning on using markers to colour in the bookmarks, you would be better off using cardstock either way since the marker ink is likely to bleed through regular printer paper.)

2. Colour Bookmarks

Break out the art supplies your have on hand and colour your own bookmarks. Use your imagination and don’t be afraid to leave white space or experiment with colours!

3. Laminate Bookmarks (Optional)

This next step is optional, but I highly recommend it for two reasons:

1. It will protect the bookmarks and make them last much longer
2. It will protect your books because the pages won’t come directly into contact with marker ink, pencil lead or whatever else you used to colour in the bookmarks

I personally LOVE our thermal laminator and use it for everything. I thought it would be expensive, but it really wasn’t, and it’s so great for protecting children’s artwork or making educational printables durable and reusable!

It’s also great, as it turns out, for making homemade bookmarks—which is why we used it to make our Bleeding Tissue Paper Bookmarks and DIY Alcohol Ink Bookmarks as well!

To laminate the bookmarks, simply place four of them in a laminating pouch and laminate them according to your machine’s instructions. Make sure you leave enough room in between each bookmark to give yourself a good margin for cutting!

I used a paper trimmer to cut off the excess plastic because I love how easy it is and how clean the cuts are. But if you don’t have one at home, you can simply use scissors.

Additional Ways to Decorate Your Bookmarks

Feel like making your homemade bookmarks a little fancier? Here are a few things you can try:

• Use metallic pencils or markers
• Cut some 2” x 6” pieces of coloured cardstock  and glue them to the back of the bookmarks before laminating them
• Leave some extra plastic at the top of each bookmark so you can punch a hole and add a tassel or decorative bead

Request the Free Bookmarks Here!

Join my mailing list using the form below to receive your free colour-in bookmarks as a welcome gift:

Subscribers gain access to my free printables library as well as to exclusive content that may never be published on my site!

Related Bookmark Crafts

Looking for more DIY bookmark ideas? Check out these articles:

• DIY Alcohol Ink Bookmarks to Keep, to Gift or to Sell
• Easy Bleeding Tissue Paper Bookmarks