Islamic colouring pages for kids: ideas by age and how to draw your own

Good Islamic colouring pages for children show places, objects and patterns rather than people: mosques, Ramadan lanterns, crescent moons, geometric stars, Arabic letters and objects from the Prophets’ stories, such as the Ark or the hoopoe. Under-fives need one big shape with thick lines; children of seven and up enjoy detailed geometric patterns. The pages never show the Prophets.

What should Islamic colouring pages show?

Islamic colouring pages are best when they show objects, places, patterns and letters. These are welcome in almost every Muslim home, they tie into Ramadan, Eid and the Prophets’ stories, and they avoid the question of drawing people. Here are fifteen ideas.

Ramadan and Eid

• Lanterns (fanous) in different shapes, to colour and cut out for a garland.
• A crescent moon and stars over a city skyline.
• The iftar table: dates, a glass of water, a bowl of soup.
• An Eid morning scene: a front door with bunting, gifts and new shoes.

Places

• A local mosque with a dome and minaret, or your own mosque drawn from a photo.
• The Kaaba seen from far away, ideal for the days of Hajj.
• A desert at night with camels, palm trees and stars.

Patterns and letters

• Islamic geometric patterns: eight-pointed stars, hexagons and interlacing tiles.
• Arabic letters in big bubble outlines, one letter per page, alif to ya.
• Simple words such as “salam” (peace) or “Eid Mubarak” in outline.

The Prophets’ stories, told through objects

• Nuh: the Ark and the animals boarding in pairs (Qur’an 11:40). See the story of Nuh for kids.
• Ibrahim: flames turning into a cool garden (21:69).
• Musa: the basket on the river (20:39), or the sea parted into two great walls of water (26:63).
• Yunus: a great fish in the sea, and the gourd plant that grew over him (37:142–146).
• Sulayman: the ants (27:18) and the hoopoe (27:20–22). Read about the hoopoe in the Qur’an. This bird gave its Arabic name to Hudhud, a UK personalised Islamic storybook in which a talking hoopoe flies the child through the stories of five Prophets.

Which colouring pages suit each age?

Match the thickness of the lines and the size of the spaces to the child’s age: the younger the child, the bigger the shapes.

Colouring inside lines and holding a pencil build the fine motor skills children need for writing, as NHS occupational therapists explain. A sheet with a crescent on it also starts a conversation about the Islamic calendar, and a picture of the Ark leads into the story of Nuh.

How do you draw your own Islamic colouring pages?

You can draw a colouring page in about 10 minutes with a black felt-tip, a ruler and household objects to draw round. This page doesn’t offer downloads: home-drawn pages are free and can be made to suit your child, and older children enjoy making them for younger siblings.

You’ll need: plain A4 paper, a pencil, a thick black felt-tip or marker, a ruler, a dinner plate and a side plate (or a compass), and an eraser.

Crescent moon and star (ages 2+, 5 minutes)

1. Draw round the dinner plate in pencil.
2. Place the side plate so it overlaps the right-hand side of the circle and draw round it.
3. Rub out the overlapping part. What is left is a crescent.
4. Draw a five-pointed star in the open part of the crescent.
5. Go over the lines with the thick felt-tip and rub out the pencil.

Ramadan lantern (ages 3+, 10 minutes)

1. Draw a tall rectangle about 8 × 12 cm in the middle of the page.
2. Add a triangle on top as the roof, with a small circle and a hanging loop above it.
3. Draw a smaller, wider rectangle below as the base.
4. Inside the main rectangle, draw an arch-shaped window.
5. Fill the space around the window with simple shapes, such as diamonds and dots.
6. Ink the outlines.

Simple mosque (ages 4+, 10 minutes)

1. Draw a wide rectangle across the lower half of the page for the prayer hall.
2. Draw round a side plate on top of it, then rub out the bottom half to leave a dome.
3. Draw a tall thin rectangle at each side for minarets, with a small dome on each.
4. Add a crescent on top of the main dome.
5. Draw an arched door and a row of arched windows.
6. Ink the outlines.

Eight-pointed star pattern (ages 7+, 15 minutes)

The eight-pointed star is common in Islamic tilework. It is simply two squares, one turned 45 degrees.

1. Draw a 10 cm square in the centre of the page.
2. Mark the centre by drawing light diagonal lines from corner to corner.
3. Draw a second 10 cm square with the same centre, turned so its corners point up, down, left and right.
4. Rub out the lines inside the star to leave its outline, or keep them for extra spaces to colour.
5. For a tessellation, repeat the star in a grid, so the gaps between the stars make cross shapes.
6. Ink the outlines.

The V&A has a step-by-step tile activity based on this same star-and-cross pattern, which suits children who want to go further.

Is colouring allowed in Islam?

Yes. Colouring itself is a normal children’s activity. The question is what the pictures show, and a few points of respect are widely observed in Muslim homes.

• No pictures of the Prophets. Muslims do not draw or depict the Prophets (peace be upon them). Show their stories through objects, places and animals instead.
• Take care with Allah’s names and Qur’an verses. Because sheets often end up in the recycling, many families avoid colouring sheets with Qur’an verses or the names of Allah, or use laminated sheets that are kept.
• Faces and figures. Scholars differ about pictures of living beings. Some families allow simple cartoon figures for children; others prefer patterns, buildings, plants and objects. Islamic art itself is famous for its geometric and plant-based patterns.

If you are unsure, ask your local imam or your child’s madrasa teacher.

How do you check a free colouring sheet before printing?

Many mosques, madrasas, Islamic publishers and UK teaching-resource sites share free sheets, especially around Ramadan and Eid. Their quality varies, so look at each one first.

• It doesn’t show a Prophet, or a figure labelled as one.
• Any Arabic is correct and the right way round (Arabic reads right to left, and letters join).
• The facts match the Qur’an: for example, that it was the Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him) who built the Ark.
• It has no Qur’an verses on a sheet that will be thrown away.
• The lines are thick enough for your child’s age.
• The site allows personal use, and it doesn’t ask for more than an email address.

Which other Islamic printables can you make?

Once you are drawing and printing, a few other sheets are easy to make at home:

• A good-deeds chart: a grid of 30 boxes for Ramadan, or seven for a week.
• A prayer tracker for older children: five columns (Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha) and a tick for each prayer.
• Dua cards: the dua before eating, before sleeping and when leaving the house, with a picture to colour on the back.
• Letter tracing: dotted Arabic letters to trace, best on laminated sheets with dry-wipe pens.
• Word searches and mazes: find the Prophets’ names, or help the hoopoe fly back to Sulayman.
• Dot-to-dot: a crescent, a lantern or a mosque dome for younger children.

Tips for printing and keeping colouring pages

• Use bold outlines and big spaces for under-fives.
• Print on thicker paper (120–160 gsm) for paint or felt-tips, so it doesn’t tear or bleed.
• Print in greyscale or draft mode to save ink.
• Laminate tracing sheets and dua cards so they last and wipe clean.
• Keep the best pages in a folder with the date, as a record of each Ramadan.

For more hands-on ideas, try our Ramadan crafts for kids, turn finished pages into a countdown with our Ramadan calendar ideas, or test what children have learned with our Islamic quiz for kids.