32 Leaf Coloring Pages – Maple, Oak and Ginkgo Leaves for Autumn

A leaf is one of the first things a child learns to draw, and one of the hardest to get quite right. This collection gives you 32 leaf coloring pages to fill in at your own pace. There are big, simple maple and oak leaves for small hands, and horse chestnut fans and ginkgo leaves with fine veins for patient ones. You will also find leaf piles ready for jumping, animals hiding among the leaves, and leaf patterns for quiet afternoons. Pick a sheet, grab your favorite crayons, and color the way autumn looks outside your window.

Our 32 Free Leaf Coloring Pages

All 32 leaf coloring pages are free to print. Click any picture to open the PDF, then print it on standard A4 paper. The sheets range from very easy, with one large leaf and thick lines, to detailed pages with fine veins and busy scenes, so there is something for every age.

Leaves of the Trees

Maple Leaf with Sun

A large maple leaf with pointed lobes, a long stem and finely drawn veins fanning out from the center, with a round sun with triangular rays in the upper right corner. The wide lobes leave plenty of open space for shading.

Oak Leaf and Acorn Cluster with Oak Tree

Three acorns hang from a twig beside a wavy-edged oak leaf with a central vein and side veins, while a full-crowned oak tree stands on a grassy hill behind them. The acorn caps have a scale pattern, which suits small crayon tips and gives a good contrast to the plain nuts.

Beech Twig with Open Husk and Nuts

A beech twig growing from a bark-lined trunk carries two wavy-edged leaves with parallel side veins and a split, bristly husk that holds two triangular nuts. The bark lines on the right give the sheet a bit of setting. The bold outlines are easy to color, and the spiky husk has the finest detail.

Horse Chestnut Leaf by a Tree Trunk

Five serrated leaflets spread like a fan from one point on a long, slightly curved stalk. Each leaflet has a center vein with many curved side veins. A bark-lined trunk fills the left edge, and two clouds and a low cloud bank sit behind the leaf. The finely toothed edges make this a sheet for a sharp crayon tip.

Ginkgo Leaf Under a Sun

A fan-shaped ginkgo leaf with a deep notch at the top and a gently wavy edge sits on a long curved stalk. Fine veins radiate from the base, and a round sun with about twenty rays shines in the upper right. The narrow spaces between the veins take a sharp crayon tip, and the two lobes could each get their own shade of yellow.

Birch Twig with Catkins and Leaves

A slender birch twig crosses in front of a peeling trunk and carries four toothed, pointed leaves with branching veins. Two long catkins covered in overlapping scales hang from it. Dark horizontal bark marks run along the trunks behind. The scale pattern on the catkins is the busiest part of the sheet.

Linden Twig with Fruit Cluster in Town Square

A linden twig with two heart-shaped, toothed leaves and a long narrow bract hangs over a town square. Five round nutlets dangle from the stalk, and a tiered fountain and two town houses with arched doorways stand behind. The bract’s long, open shape is easy to fill, and the nutlets could each get a soft green or tan.

Autumn Leaf Collection with Acorn and Pine Cone

Seven different leaves are arranged in rows: maple, oak, beech, horse chestnut, ginkgo, birch and linden. An acorn and a scaly pine cone fill the bottom corner. The sheet moves from large, open shapes at the top to fine veining and small scales at the bottom.

Leaf Shapes and Parts

Sycamore Leaf with Two Water Droplets

A single large five-lobed leaf with jagged edges and a long curved stalk fills the page, showing a central midrib and branching side veins. Two round, glossy water droplets with highlight marks sit at the upper left and lower right. The big open lobes are easy to fill, and each droplet could take a pale blue.

Simple Leaf and Rowan Compound Leaf

Two leafy twigs stand side by side. On the left, one large toothed leaf has wavy side veins, and on the right, a compound leaf has nine small serrated leaflets along a central stem. Each twig has two small buds. Comparing the two shows how simple and compound leaves differ.

Four Leaf Edge Shapes: Maple, Birch, Oak and Beech

Four separate leaves sit in a two-by-two grid, each with its own edge: a pointed maple with sharp lobes, a birch with fine saw-toothed teeth, an oak with rounded wavy lobes and a beech with a gently scalloped rim. Every leaf has a midrib, side veins and a short stalk. The birch and beech veining is the densest, while the oak’s wide lobes are the easiest to fill.

Pine, Spruce and Larch Needle Twigs

Three conifer twigs are stacked down the page: a pine with long needles, a spruce with short needles packed along the stem, and a larch with needle tufts on knobby spurs. Fir trees, shrubs and rolling hills sit in the background. The spruce twig has the densest detail, while the long pine needles are easier to color.

Maple, Oak and Birch Trees with Their Leaves

Three trees stand on grassy hills, each with a giant leaf hanging in front of its trunk: a pointed maple, a wavy-lobed oak and a saw-edged birch. The birch trunk is marked with bark dashes. The tall oak leaf has the widest open areas, while the drooping birch foliage is the most detailed.

Leaf Piles and Play

Big Leaf Pile with Garden Rake

A dome-shaped heap of overlapping autumn leaves, including two five-fingered horse chestnut leaves, maples, oaks, birch leaves and a ginkgo, with a garden rake leaning on its right side. Two plain outlined clouds float above. The many small leaves need a steady hand, but the clouds and rake handle are big, open areas.

Child Jumping into a Leaf Pile with Dog

A laughing child in a zip jacket and rubber boots leaps with arms spread above a big pile of maple, oak and ginkgo leaves, while a retriever-type dog watches with its tongue out. A porch with steps, a bushy hedge and a large tree fill the background. The leaf pile is dense, but the jacket, boots and dog have roomy areas.

Children Making Leaf Rubbings

A boy and a girl sit at a table by a four-pane window and rub crayons over paper laid on an oak leaf and a maple leaf. A finished oak rubbing and a loose oak leaf lie in front of them. The faces and sweaters are large and open, while the wavy leaf edges take a careful hand.

Leaf Boat with Acorn Passenger in a Puddle

Two children in rubber boots and hooded jackets, one bending over and one crouching, watch a large maple-style leaf float on a rippled puddle. A smiling acorn sits on the leaf as if it were a boat, and a big tree trunk stands behind them. The ripples are bold, open lines, and the acorn’s cap has a small scaled pattern.

Girl Pressing Leaves in a Book

A smiling girl with long hair sits at a table and lays a maple leaf onto an open book whose pages already hold six pressed leaves, including ginkgo, birch, oak and horse chestnut. A four-pane window, a heart-leaf plant and a shelf with books fill the room behind her. The fine leaf veins call for a sharp pencil, while the girl’s sweater and hair are large, open areas.

Hedgehog Holding a Maple Leaf Umbrella

A smiling hedgehog stands upright and holds the long stem of a big maple leaf over its head like an umbrella, while two raindrops fall on either side. The spiky back is drawn in jagged strokes, and the leaf has clear veins and a wavy edge. The large leaf lobes are easy to fill, while the spines along the back take a steadier hand.

Leaves and Animals

Caterpillar Eating a Maple Leaf

A cheerful caterpillar with big eyes and two knobbed antennae crawls across a large maple leaf and has just taken a scalloped bite from its edge. Its five dotted body segments curve in front of two daisies with leafy stems. The round, open segments suit broad color areas, while the leaf veins are finer work.

Leafcutter Ants Carrying Leaves on a Branch

Four smiling leafcutter ants march in a line along a slanted, bark-textured branch, each holding a different leaf overhead: maple, oak, serrated birch and a rounded one. At the lower right is an anthill with an arched entrance and scattered pebbles, and large leaves fill the bottom left. The four carried leaves have clear veins and suit broad color areas, while the thin ant legs and bark lines are

Squirrel Building a Leaf-Lined Nest

In a tree fork, a squirrel with a big curled, bushy tail carries a maple leaf in its mouth and rests one paw on a nest of woven twigs. Two more leaves already lie inside the nest, two maple leaves hang from a branch above, and puffy clouds sit behind. The twig weave and the bark lines are dense, so they suit a sharp pencil.

Frog on a Lily Pad with Dragonfly

A smiling frog sits on a large veined lily pad and looks up at a dragonfly hovering overhead. A water lily bloom stands at the right and tall reeds rise from the pond at the left. The wide, open shapes of the pad and frog are easy to fill in, while the dragonfly’s wing veins call for a sharper pencil.

Koala Eating Eucalyptus Leaf

A koala clings to a slanting eucalyptus trunk with one paw gripping the bark and one foot braced below, nibbling a long leaf. Its big, fluffy ears have jagged fur edges. Two small clouds sit at the upper left, and long, pointed eucalyptus leaves hang along the right side. The fluffy ears and body call for short, feathery strokes.

Leaf Art and Crafts

Leaf Owl on a Branch

An owl built from overlapping leaves perches on a bare branch, its wings made of two large oak leaves and its body of rows of small toothed leaves. Acorn caps frame the big round eyes, and two maple leaves stand up as ear tufts. Dense leaf veins make this a detailed sheet, so a sharp pencil works best.

Butterfly Made of Four Leaves

A smiling butterfly has a knobby twig for a body and wings made of a maple leaf, an oak leaf, a birch leaf and a five-fingered horse chestnut leaf. Two five-petal flowers with grass tufts sit at the bottom corners. The twig’s bark knots are small, while the wings have long, open sections.

Walking Leaf Family with Acorn Heads

Four little characters with acorn-cap hats stroll past a picket fence, their bodies a maple leaf, a birch leaf, an oak leaf and a cluster of small leaves. The two smallest ones hold hands, and round-crowned trees and grass tufts fill the background. The acorn caps have a fine scale pattern, while the fence and trees are bold and open.

Autumn Leaves Swirling in the Wind with Kite

Eleven leaves, including maple, oak, horse chestnut, ginkgo and birch, spiral around a wind swirl while a diamond kite with three bow-tied tail ribbons flies beside two clouds. The wind lines are long, open curves, and the leaves have fine veins.

Autumn Leaf Wreath on a Front Door

A round wreath of maple, oak and toothed leaves with berry clusters hangs from a hook on a paneled front door. A ribbed pumpkin sits beside a doormat, and four fallen leaves lie on the porch. The wreath has fine veins and small berries, while the door, siding and mat are big, open areas.

Leaf Patterns and Mandalas

Ring of Six Different Leaves

Six leaves are arranged in a circle around an empty round center: maple on top, then ginkgo, elm, linden, birch and oak. Each has its own vein pattern and edge, from scalloped lobes to fine saw teeth. The bold outlines and large blank circle leave plenty of room for shading experiments.

Large Maple Leaf Filled with Acorns and Swirls

One big maple leaf with a long stem holds two smaller leaves (a maple and an oak), two scaly-capped acorns and four spiral curls inside its lobes. The bold outline and wide open spaces make it easy to color, and each acorn cap takes a separate shade well.

Acorn and Leaf Mandala

A round mandala with a large acorn in the center circle, its cap covered in scale-like scallops. Eight oak leaves circle the acorn, and an outer ring holds twelve maple leaves. The scaled cap and leaf veins are fine detail, while the acorn’s smooth body is a large open shape.

Leaf Facts for Kids

The Kitchen of the Plant

A leaf is the kitchen of the plant. Inside it, the tree uses light, water and carbon dioxide to make sugar, and it gives off oxygen along the way. This is called photosynthesis. Leaves look green because of a pigment called chlorophyll.

The veins of a leaf work like tiny pipes. They carry water into the leaf and carry sugar back out. When you color a sheet, the veins are a good place to use a thin pencil.

Why Leaves Change Color in Fall

In autumn the tree breaks down the chlorophyll. The yellow and orange pigments (carotenoids) were in the leaf all summer, and now they show through. Red pigments (anthocyanins) are newly made in the fall.

Deciduous trees drop their leaves in autumn to save energy and water. Conifers keep most of their needles all year long. The larch is the exception, because it sheds its needles in the fall.

Famous Leaves and Leaf Eaters

The ginkgo is called a living fossil, because relatives of this tree lived more than 200 million years ago. Its fan-shaped leaf has a small notch in the middle and turns bright yellow in fall. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote a famous poem about it in 1815.

The maple leaf has been on the flag of Canada since 1965. The sugar maple also gives us maple syrup. Oaks and beeches are important forest trees, and squirrels, jays and wild boars eat their acorns and beechnuts.

Leafcutter ants in Central and South America carry pieces of leaf into their nest. They do not eat the leaves. They grow a fungus on them and live on that. In the Amazon region, the giant water lily (Victoria amazonica) has leaves more than two meters wide that float on the water like huge round plates.

Tips for Printing and Coloring

Each sheet is made for A4 paper. Plain printer paper works fine for crayons and colored pencils. If you want to use markers or watercolors, try a heavier paper so the color does not soak through. If you print on US Letter, choose “fit to page” in the print dialog so nothing gets cut off at the edges.

Print at 100 percent for the best line quality. A single page in black and white uses very little ink, so you can print a few copies and try different colors on each.

Here is how to pick a sheet by age:

• Toddlers and preschoolers: choose the simple pages with one big leaf shape, such as the maple or the oak with acorns. Thick crayons work well.
• Elementary school children: leaf piles and animal scenes give them more to explore and more places to try different colors.
• Older children and adults: the detailed leaf collections and the mandala patterns reward slow work with colored pencils and fine pens.

After Coloring: Craft Ideas

• Leaf rubbings: put a real leaf under a sheet of paper and rub over it with the side of a wax crayon. The veins appear almost by themselves. Then compare your rubbing with the matching coloring page.
• Pressed leaf collection: press leaves between the pages of a heavy book for a week or two. Glue them into a notebook next to your finished coloring pages and write the tree name below each one.
• Autumn garland: cut out your colored leaves, punch a hole in each stem, and thread them on string to hang across a window or shelf.
• Leaf pile collage: color a leaf pile page, then glue small torn pieces of red, orange and yellow paper on top to make the heap look fluffy and deep.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are these leaf coloring pages really free?

Yes. All 32 sheets are free to download and print for personal use at home. Click a picture to open the PDF, then print as many copies as you like.

What age are these pages for?

There is a sheet for almost every age. Toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy the single large leaves. Elementary school children will like the leaf piles and animal scenes. Older children and adults can try the leaf collections and mandalas.

Which colors are correct for a leaf?

Nearly any leaf color is fine, because leaves change through the year. In summer, use many shades of green. In autumn, use yellow, orange, red and brown. Maple leaves often turn bright red and orange, while ginkgo and birch leaves turn golden yellow. Beech leaves go coppery brown and orange, and oak leaves go brown and red.

Can I use the sheets in a classroom?

Yes. Teachers are welcome to print the pages for their students. They fit well with a science lesson on photosynthesis or autumn colors, or with a nature walk where children collect real leaves and match them to the sheets. Please link to this page rather than copying the PDFs to another website.

How do I tell a maple leaf from an oak leaf?

A maple leaf is hand-shaped, with five pointed lobes and jagged edges. Its veins spread out like a fan from one point at the stem. An oak leaf is longer and has rounded lobes with a smooth edge. Look for the acorns on the oak pages as a clue.

Why does the horse chestnut page look so different?

A horse chestnut leaf is a compound leaf. Five to seven separate leaflets fan out from one stem, so it looks like a hand with spread fingers. The page also shows the spiky green case that holds the shiny brown chestnut.

Matthew Matthysen( Drawing and Painting Artist )

Matthew Matthysen is an educated multidisciplinary artist and illustrator. He successfully completed his art degree at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, majoring in art history and contemporary drawing. The focus of his thesis was to explore the philosophical implications of the macro and micro-universe on the human experience. Matthew uses diverse media, such as written and hands-on components, to explore various approaches that are on the border between philosophy and science.

Matthew organized various exhibitions before and during his years as a student and is still passionate about doing so today. He currently works as a freelance artist and writer in various fields. He also has a permanent position at a renowned online gallery (ArtGazette) where he produces various works on commission. As a freelance artist, he creates several series and successfully sells them to galleries and collectors. He loves to use his work and skills in various fields of interest.

Matthew has been creating drawing and painting tutorials since the relaunch in 2020. Through his involvement with artincontext.org, he has been able to deepen his knowledge of various painting mediums. For example, watercolor techniques, calligraphy and lately digital drawing, which is becoming more and more popular.

Learn more about Matthew Matthysen and the Art in Context Team.