Sinterklaas in the classroom: coloring pages for ages 4 to 8
Written by the Amy Color Club editors with the help of AI and checked by us.
Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) is a Dutch tradition that many schools cover in early December. Practical coloring ideas for ages 4 to 8, with free pages you can print.
In the Netherlands, many schools mark Sinterklaas every year. In the weeks before 5 December, classrooms talk about the arrival by boat, the stories and the question of who gets a present. For teachers outside the Netherlands, this can be a new topic. A coloring page is an easy way into it, because children can see the picture before they hear the story.
This article is for teachers of children aged about 4 to 8, the same age range as Dutch groups 1 to 4. The ideas use free pages from the site that you can print at home or at school.
What works for the youngest children
Children aged four and five often color best with large shapes and thick crayons or markers. They often go outside the lines, and that is fine. A picture with one main figure is easy to follow.
A good first page is the little shoe with a carrot. Children know shoes and carrots, so they can talk about the picture straight away. Ask what the carrot is for.
Put the finished pages on a wall, and go round the group so each child can point out something they colored.
What works for ages 6 to 8
Older children can handle more detail and can add their own background. A page with a story in it works well. Sinterklaas reading his book is a good choice, because the children can invent what the book is about.
Ask them to write one sentence about their picture. Who is in it? What is happening? What might happen next? It is a short writing task that fits the theme, and it does not feel like a test.
A simple week
You do not need to color every day. Here is one way to spread the theme across a week:
- Monday: the arrival. Color the arrival by steamboat and talk about who is on the boat and who is waiting on the quay.
- Wednesday: the horse. Color the horse outside the stable and ask where a horse sleeps and what it eats.
- Friday: the book. Use the book page and let the children tell the story in their own words.
Practical tips
Print the pages at 100 percent on A4 in portrait orientation. This keeps the lines sharp and the edges in place. Print a few extra copies for children who finish quickly or who want to try again.
Check your school's photo policy before you hang the pages in a public corridor with children's names on them.
Idea for a mixed group
If you teach children of different ages together, give the older ones a harder page and the younger ones an easier one. Both can still talk about the same story at the end. The children can also learn from each other's pictures.
To finish
Sinterklaas in the classroom can be short and simple. One page a day, a question to talk about and a wall to hang the work on is enough. For more ideas on using the pages in class, read the article on five ways to use coloring pages in class. The full set of Sinterklaas pages is in the Sinterklaas section.
