Cheerleading coloring pages: 48 printable designs covering solo jumps and stunts, team formations and pyramids, baby and kids cheerleaders, anime-style illustrations, and favorite character crossovers. Each page can be downloaded as a PDF to print or colored online in the browser.
What Is Cheerleading?
Cheerleading is a performance and athletic discipline combining organized chanting, arm motions, dance, tumbling, and stunting to energize crowds or compete in dedicated competitions. The official birthday of organized cheerleading is November 2, 1898, when University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell led the crowd in the first coordinated cheer. Today it has over 3 million participants in the United States alone, and in 2021 the International Olympic Committee formally recognized cheerleading as a sport.
What’s Inside This Collection
Solo Jumps and Stunts
Pages capture the sport’s signature airborne positions, the Toe Touch, Herkie, Pike, and Spread Eagle jumps, along with stunt poses like the Thigh Stand and elevated Liberty position. These pages show cheerleaders mid-motion, arms and legs at the specific angles that define each named skill.
Team Formations and Pyramids
Group compositions show multiple cheerleaders in formation, linked stunts, and pyramid structures, along with pom-pom routines and megaphone poses that reflect school and All-Star sideline traditions.
Baby and Kids Cheerleaders
Pages like Baby Girl and Cheerleading and Kids Cheerleading depict the sport’s entry-level, recreational side, simple poses and cute designs aimed at the youngest colorists and youngest cheerleaders.
Anime-Style Pages
Anime Image of Cheerleading and Anime Girl Cheerleading draw on the expressive, high-saturation aesthetic of Japanese sports illustration for a more stylized take on the same subject.
Character Crossover Pages
Several pages place familiar characters in cheerleading poses, including Elsa, Minnie, Ariel, and Tinker Bell, alongside Bratz character Yasmin, a Minion, Strawberry Shortcake, and Lola Bunny, giving fans of those characters a cheer-themed page to color.
What These Pages Do
The American Academy of Pediatrics identifies fine motor skill development as a core benefit of structured coloring for children ages 2 through 7, and the collection’s range, from simple baby pages to detailed stunt and pyramid compositions, suits a wide range of skill levels.
A 2005 study in the Art Therapy Journal documented measurable reductions in anxiety following structured coloring sessions. Matching a consistent uniform palette across pom-poms, bow, and megaphone gives colorists a clear, focused visual problem to solve.
How to Color Cheerleading Pages Well
- Start with the uniform: pick a primary and secondary color first, then apply that same palette to the pom-poms, hair bow, and any megaphone so the page reads as one cohesive team identity.
- Pom-poms need texture: apply color with short outward strokes from the center rather than a flat fill, keeping the center slightly lighter where the handle gathers the strands.
- Jump pages need to show air: keep the space below and around a jumping figure lighter and more open, and place any ground line well below the figure to preserve the sense of height.
- The Herkie jump’s asymmetry: the two legs sit in very different positions, so give the bent leg slightly more shadow than the extended leg rather than mirroring both sides evenly.
- Anime-style pages: push colors brighter than realistic pages call for, vivid cherry red rather than muted red, electric sky blue rather than navy.
5 Creative Craft Ideas With Cheerleading Coloring Pages
1. Design Your Team’s Uniform
Choose a primary color, a secondary color, and an optional metallic accent before coloring, write down what each color is for, then color a full team page in that palette and give the team a name and mascot.
2. Jump Position Identification Study
Color six pages showing different jump positions, then research and label each one, Toe Touch, Herkie, Pike, Tuck, Spread Eagle, building a visual reference of how body position creates the shape of each skill.
3. Pom-Pom Color Challenge
Color a solo cheerleader’s uniform in one palette, then design the pom-poms in a different but complementary combination, two-tone striped or metallic accented, to see how pom-pom color functions as its own layer of team identity.
4. Cheerleading History Timeline
Draw a timeline from 1898 to today marking key moments, the first organized cheer, the first cheerleading clinic, the invention of the vinyl pom-pom, and the 2021 Olympic recognition, coloring a small period-appropriate cheerleader figure at each point.
5. Squad Spirit Packet
Color one solo jump page, one team formation page, one baby or kids page, and one anime-style page, all in the same team palette, then arrange the four together as a set representing different ages within one cheer team’s world.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who started organized cheerleading, and when?
Organized cheerleading began on November 2, 1898, when University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell led the crowd in the first coordinated cheer, a date still celebrated as cheerleading’s birthday.
Which characters are included in this collection?
The collection features 48 designs, including solo and team cheerleader pages, baby and kids pages, anime-style illustrations, and character crossovers such as Elsa, Minnie, Ariel, Tinker Bell, Yasmin, and Lola Bunny.
What is the Herkie jump?
The Herkie is a jump named after Lawrence Herkimer in which one leg extends straight to the side while the other bends at the knee toward the ground, creating an asymmetrical shape that remains a cheerleading standard.
What colors should I use for pom-poms?
Pom-pom colors should match the uniform, a red-and-white uniform gets red-and-white pom-poms, applied with short outward strokes from the center rather than a flat fill to suggest loose strands.
Is cheerleading recognized as an official sport?
In 2021, the International Olympic Committee formally recognized cheerleading as a sport, opening a path toward potential future Olympic inclusion, and the International Cheer Union serves as its global governing body.
What are the four main types of cheerleading?
Recreational cheerleading for young children, school and sideline cheerleading at games, All-Star competitive cheerleading through private gyms, and professional cheerleading associated with teams like the NFL and NBA.
What is a cheerleading pyramid?
A pyramid connects multiple stunts into one structure, two or more stunt groups linked together at different heights, with flyers supported at the peak and bases at progressively lower levels.
Are cheerleading coloring pages free to print?
Yes. All pages are free to download as a PDF and print, or to color online in the browser. No account, email, or payment is required.
Download any page by clicking the design. No account, email, or payment is required. Pages print directly from the browser at full resolution or open in the online coloring tool for screen use. Share finished pages on Facebook or Pinterest with the share buttons at the top of each design page.
