Colour By Code Worksheets for Teachers
Bring printable colour by numbers, letters and more foundational concepts into your classroom with fun worksheets created by teachers for teachers.
This collection of Australian curriculum-aligned teaching resources is designed to add an engaging element to your worksheets for maths, science, English and more! Best of all, each printable has been carefully reviewed and selected by an expert on the Teach Starter teaching team, so you know it's ready for your classroom, your lesson plans and your students!
Not familiar with the term colour by code, or just looking for some fresh ideas to use these worksheets in the classroom? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is a Colour By Code Worksheet?
Haven't heard the term colour by code? That's OK! Maybe you've heard of colour by numbers or colouring by maths? Or maybe you call them mystery picture worksheets?
These fun worksheets allow students to pull out their crayons or coloured pencils to colour a picture based on a predetermined colour key or code, where each colour corresponds to a specific number or symbol. The goal is to match the numbers or symbols on the picture with the corresponding colours to reveal a mystery picture.
Colour by code refers to not just colour by numbers but also colour by parts of speech, synonyms, addition and other educational concepts!
History of Colour by Numbers
Ever wonder how colouring by numbers became so popular?
The exact history of these sheets is hard to track down, but as far back as the early 20th century, people were 'painting by number' as a recreational activity. Then an activity mainly for adults, it involved painting pre-drawn canvases with numbered sections that corresponded to specific paint colours.
In the 1950s, an American artist called Dan Robbins developed a commercial version of the concept called 'Paint by Numbers' that helped the idea go mainstream and give life to what we now call colour by numbers in schools! His kits included pre-printed canvases, numbered paints and brushes, and his idea was soon adapted to make colouring books for kids.
In the versions for kids, numbers or symbols were added to line drawings instead of canvases, and young children could easily colour within the lines using crayons or coloured pencils!
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Colour by Parts of Speech Worksheet – Chameleon
Practise your parts of speech lesson by colouring nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions and pronouns on the chameleon.
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Telling Time - Year 1 Maths Colouring Sheet
Practise telling time to the hour and half hour with a fun Telling Time Colour By Code maths worksheet!
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Firefighter Colour By Number Worksheet - Hundreds Chart
Print the perfect maths activity to accompany your fire safety lessons with a printable firefighter colour-by-number worksheet
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Colour by Number - 2 x Multiplication Facts
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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Colour by Parts of Speech Worksheet – Toucan
Consolidate your parts of speech lesson by colouring nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions and adverbs on the toucan.
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Colouring by Numbers - Operations
Colouring pages to be used when working with operations.
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Dot Day Colour By Number Printable - Upper Years
Integrate Dot Day concepts into your maths lessons with printable Dot Day Multiplication and Division colour-by-number worksheets.
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Odd and Even Colour-by-Number Worksheets
Practise identifying if the sum of two numbers is odd or even with this fun set of colour-by-number worksheets.
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Colour by Number - 4 x Multiplication Facts
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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Read and Colour Worksheet – Common and Proper Nouns
A worksheet to practise identifying common and proper nouns.
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Initial Letter Colouring Worksheet
Identify the first letter for each picture and then colour it in.
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Subitising Worksheets Variety Pack
Incorporate these subitising worksheets into your lessons to give your students practise subitising collections up to 12.
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Parts of Speech Word Search (Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs) – Worksheet
A word search where students find and categorise nouns, adjectives and verbs.
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Crazy Boxes – 2, 3, 5, 10 Times Tables
A fun multiplication worksheet where students create a colour pattern using 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables.
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Identify and Colour 2D Shapes Worksheet
Use this 2D shapes worksheet to help your students identify 8 of the most common two-dimensional shapes.
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Grammar Grid Colour by Code - Easter Parts of Speech Worksheet
Follow the colour-coded parts of speech guide to fill in the word grid and reveal a mystery image.
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Valentine's Mystery Picture - Multiplication Colour By Number Worksheet
Have fun with your Valentine’s Day Maths with this multiplication mystery picture worksheet.
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Colour by Number - 2, 3, 5, 10 Multiplication
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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Crazy Boxes – 3 Times Tables
A fun multiplication worksheet where students create a colour pattern using 3 times tables.
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Crazy Boxes – 10 Times Tables
A fun multiplication worksheet where students create a colour pattern using 10 times tables.
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Roll and Colour Worksheet - One More, One Less
An interactive worksheet to practise finding the number that is 1 more and 1 less than a given number.
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Colour By Code - Simple or Compound Sentence Worksheet
Use a Colour By Code Simple or Compound Sentence worksheet to help your students practise identifying simple and compound sentence types.
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Unit Fraction Colouring Sheet
Crack the colour code and practise unit fractions all while colouring in fun images.
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Colour by Sight Words - 6 Words - Snake
Practise sight words for kindergarten and more with a printable color by sight word worksheet.
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Homophone Mandala Flower Worksheets
Have your students create a colourful mandala flower while simultaneously demonstrating their understanding of common homophones.
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Colour It! Need or Want Worksheet
Identify examples of needs and wants with this colour-coding activity.
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Colour by Number - 6 x Multiplication Facts
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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Colour by Number - 3 x Multiplication Facts
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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Colour by Number – Repeated Addition
An engaging activity to prepare students for understanding the concept of multiplication.
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Parts of Speech Colouring Worksheet (Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs)
Use this colour by part of speech worksheet as a fun Autumn activity with your students.
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Subtraction Across Zero - Colour By Number Worksheet
Practise subtraction across zeros with a fun colour-by-number worksheet.
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Number Recognition Worksheet - Sloth Colour-by-Number
Use the number colour coding on this colouring sheet to create a cute sloth-themed picture.