10 Shark Coloring Pages + Cool Shark Facts for Kids
Published:
July 28, 2025
Contributor:
Charis King
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Looking for fun and educational shark coloring pages your kids will love? We’ve created a fun printable set packed with different shark species, cool facts, and picture clues to spark curiosity and learning. Whether you’re diving into an ocean unit, celebrating Shark Week, or just exploring sea creatures, these pages make it easy to learn and play at the same time.
What’s Inside:
You’ll get a set of 10 shark-themed coloring pages that feature:
- Large, simple outlines great for little hands
- A mix of popular sharks like great whites, hammerheads, and whale sharks
- Kid-friendly ocean backgrounds that spark imagination
A Quick Look at Sharks
Sharks are some of the most fascinating creatures in the ocean. Today, there are over 500 different types of sharks, and they live in oceans all over the world-from coral reefs to deep sea trenches. Some are huge and gentle (like the whale shark), while others are fast and fierce (like the mako shark). Sharks are perfectly built for ocean life with their powerful fins, super senses, and endless rows of teeth.
Despite their reputation in movies, most sharks aren’t dangerous to humans. In fact, they play an important role in keeping the ocean ecosystem healthy.
Fin-tastic Fun Shark Facts for Kids
Ready to dive in and learn about sharks with these jaw-some shark facts? 🦈
- Sharks have no bones! Their skeletons are made of cartilage – the same bendy stuff in your nose and ears.
- They grow new teeth constantly. Some sharks lose thousands of teeth in their lifetime and just keep growing more! Even though shark teeth look like tiny bones, they’re actually made of dentin, a hard tooth material (just like in your own teeth!), not bone.
- Sharks have special skin. It feels like sandpaper because it’s covered in tiny tooth-like scales called dermal denticles.
- They have incredible senses. Sharks can smell a drop of blood from far away and even detect electrical signals from other animals.
- Some glow in the dark! Deep-sea sharks like the lantern shark have bioluminescence to help them survive in the dark.
- Not all sharks are big. The dwarf lantern shark is smaller than a pencil!
- Greenland sharks can live for over 250 years – some might even be older than the United States! These slow-moving sharks glide through the icy waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic, often so deep and cold that they’re hard for scientists to study.
- Sharks are speedy. The shortfin mako shark can swim over 45 miles per hour.
- They’re not all scary. Most sharks are harmless to humans and avoid people altogether.
Why Sharks Are Great for Kids to Learn About
Sharks help kids explore big ideas like ecosystems, ocean food chains, and the importance of conservation. They’re also just cool – which means even reluctant learners usually perk up when there’s a shark involved.
Sharks spark questions, invite observation, and connect science to creativity. Plus, they fit perfectly into summer themes, beach books, or Shark Week fun.
Print & Go – 10 FREE Shark Coloring Pages
These shark coloring sheets are ready to print and use — no prep needed. Each page features a different shark species and one fun fact to help kids connect what they’re learning with what they’re coloring. From the massive whale shark to the tin dwarf lantern shark, your kids will have fun discovering what makes each one special.
1. Great White Shark Coloring Page
Meet the Great White shark, the ocean’s top predator with a powerful nose-able to detect even a single drop of blood from far away! This coloring page features a friendly Great White smiling near a treasure chest on the sea floor, just waiting for your child’s splash of color.
2. Hammerhead Shark Coloring Page
With eyes on the ends of its wide head, the hammerhead shark can scan for food in all directions at once. Kids can bring this cheerful hammerhead to life as it swims past coral with three curious fish tagging along.
Don’t let its size fool you – this gentle giant only eats teeny-tiny plankton. This coloring page shows a smiling whale shark gliding near the surface, with little fish and drifting plankton all around.
4. Leopard Shark Coloring Page
Leopard sharks love hanging out in kelp forests where they hunt for crabs and small fish. This playful page shows a leopard shark weaving through sea kelp with a scuttling crab nearby.
5. Blacktip Shark Coloring Page
Blacktip sharks are speedy swimmers and proud shark moms-they can have up to ten pups at once! On this page, a joyful blacktip shark zips near colorful coral and darting fish in a busy underwater scene.
With a long, saw-like snout, the sawshark stirs up the sea floor to find its next meal. Kids can color this unique shark surrounded by seaweed, little fish, and shrimp, imagining the hunt in action.
7. Bonnethead Shark Coloring Page
Bonnethead sharks are the only sharks that munch on plants along with meat-especially tasty seaweed! This page shows a curious bonnethead swimming past swaying seaweed with fish in the distance.
8. Greenland Shark Coloring Page
Greenland sharks live deep in icy waters and can live for over 250 years-longer than almost any animal on Earth. This calm coloring page captures one swimming through dark, snowy water in the chilly deep sea.
Nurse sharks are the napping champions of the ocean, often snoozing in piles like underwater pancakes. Your child will love coloring this peaceful nurse shark resting on the sandy ocean floor near a patch of seagrass.
10. Dwarf Lantern Shark Coloring Page
The dwarf lantern shark is tiny-but it glows in the dark! It uses its light to sneak up on shrimp and squid in the deep sea. This fun page shows a glowing little shark near three shrimp, just waiting for a burst of kid-powered creativity.
Springboard Learning Ideas
Looking for hands-on ways to extend learning? Try these shark activities to add some fun to your homeschool lessons or classroom:
- Build a Shark Unit Study: Use your coloring pages as a starting point for a full shark unit study. Dive into shark habitats, behaviors, and their life cycle with activities, reading, and crafts that bring the ocean to life right in your classroom or homeschool.
- Read a Shark Story: Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale is a fun, energetic book that sneaks in lessons about behavior and self-control.
- Explore a Shark Reader: Try National Geographic Readers: Sharks! for fun facts and real photos that go deeper into the science of sharks.
- Make a Shark Snack: Create a fun shark-themed snack like “ocean pudding cups” or fishy trail mix. Can your kids explain how they made it? Great for writing directions or sequencing steps!
- Draw Your Own Shark Habitat: Use the coloring pages as a springboard to design an undersea scene with kelp forests, coral reefs, or deep sea vents. What other animals might live there?
- Watch a Shark Movie or Video: Watch one of the movies from our 15 best list. National Geographic Kids also offers some excellent free shark videos on YouTube, perfect for curious learners. One standout episode, Sharks for Kids: Learn All About These Big Fish!, is engaging, informative, and completely free. Your kids can see real sharks in action, learn about their habitats, and pick up fascinating facts-all from a trusted educational source.
- Try Shark Craft Activities: Get creative with easy shark craft activities like making a paper plate shark or building an underwater diorama. These hands-on projects help kids explore shark shapes and habitats while having fun with scissors and glue!
- Celebrate Shark Week (July): Check out kid-friendly documentaries or crafts during Shark Week, usually held in mid-to-late July. Let your kids become junior shark experts for the week!
Final Thought
Sharks might seem fierce, but they’re also fascinating, mysterious, and important to ocean life. These shark coloring pages give your kids a hands-on way to explore big questions, spark creativity, and swim through science-all while having fun.
Whether you’re celebrating Shark Week or just diving into an ocean theme, this printable set makes it easy to add excitement (and a few toothy grins) to your homeschool day.
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Charis King
Charis King is the owner & steward of Homeschool Giveaways, a wife whose husband lives in Heaven, and a mom of twin daughters currently attending college. She and her husband homeschooled their daughters with the belief that each person is a unique masterpiece of God – created with gifts, interests and talents. (Eph 2:10). Even though the season of homeschooling her own daughters ended a few years ago, Charis is grateful for the opportunity to support other families along their own unique homeschool journey.
