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Government Coloring and Activity Books

Coloring books and coloring pages produced by U.S. federal and state government agencies.

About Government Coloring and Activity Books

The Government Information Connection at Sycamore Library has over 175 coloring books, coloring pages, and activity books produced by United States federal and Texas state government agencies. These publications are entertaining as well as educational, and they cover just about every topic under the sun and throughout the universe. 

Coloring books contain line drawings, sometimes with a small amount of shading or cross-hatching, and can be colored in with crayons, colored pencils, or markers either according to a prescribed color scheme or at the artist's whim, depending on the purpose of the coloring activity.

Activity books often include coloring pages, and are sometimes difficult to distinguish from coloring books, but they also include educational games, puzzles, cut-out-and-assemble projects, quizzes, and other interactive activities that often require writing or coloring directly in the book or cutting out and assembling images from the book. 

Both coloring books and activity books are known in the book world as "consumables," meaning they are ephemera meant to be used up and discarded. Please do not "consume" the coloring and activity books in our collection, or other patrons will not be able to use them! Instead, photocopy them or access the online version of the book and print out the pages you wish to use. That way, everyone can enjoy them.

How to Find Government Coloring and Activity Books

This bibliography provides a list of selected government coloring and activity books, but you can also search for more titles in the UNT Libraries catalog and on the Internet. 

To search for our government coloring books or activity books, go to the UNT Libraries Discover Catalog of Books & More on the UNT Libraries homepage, enter "coloring book" or "activity book" in the search box (include the quotation marks), and select Other/Government Documents from the menu bar beneath the search box.

Finding Online Coloring and Activity Books

Not all government coloring books are available in a physical format. To find hundreds of digital format coloring books, go to a government agency website and search for the phrase “coloring book,” “coloring pages,” or "activity book." Many agencies have a “kid’s page” that includes links to coloring books, games, and other educational activities. You can google the name of the agency to find their website. Most—but  not all—federal agency websites can be guessed at by entering the agency’s acronym followed by .gov (e.g., nasa.gov).

You can also go to the website USA.gov and search several federal and state government websites simultaneously by entering a keyword pertaining to the subject you are looking for (e.g., "energy" or "safety" and following it with the word "coloring" or "activity", using the same phrases listed above. 

Coloring Book Controversies

Not all parents or teachers warm to the idea of giving children coloring books. Some suspect they may stifle creativity or intimidate children who don't feel their own art is at the same level of technical skill as that in the book. Others believe they are useful for teaching values and concepts other than artistic expertise.

Here are a few articles and books that explore those controversies:

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