Doves Coloring Pages

Free Doves coloring pages: 27 printable PDF designs featuring these gentle, symbolic birds in portrait, flight, and holiday-themed styles. Each page can be downloaded as a PDF to print or colored online in the browser.

Doves are members of the bird family Columbidae, the very same family that includes pigeons, a detail that surprises many people since the two are usually pictured so differently. There is no formal scientific line separating them: “dove” tends to describe the smaller, paler, more slender members of the family, while “pigeon” usually refers to the larger, stockier ones, but biologically they are the same kind of bird. Doves share a genuinely unusual trait with only a handful of other bird families. Both parents produce a nutrient-rich substance called crop milk in their throats to feed their young, a behavior otherwise seen mainly in flamingos and emperor penguins. Many doves, especially the mourning dove, form long-term pair bonds and often keep the same mate for life, which helped build their long-standing reputation as symbols of fidelity and devoted love. Their modern association with peace owes a great deal to a specific piece of art: Pablo Picasso’s 1949 lithograph “La Colombe,” created for the World Peace Congress, which turned the simple image of a dove into one of the most recognized peace symbols in the world.

This collection groups its 27 designs into classic portraits and ready-to-print pages, doves in flight and nature, doves as symbols of love and peace, holiday and seasonal doves, and character and cultural crossovers, giving colorists several ways to bring this gentle, meaningful bird to life.

What Is Inside This Collection

The 27 Doves pages are split into five natural groups based on setting and theme.

Classic Portraits and Ready-to-Print Pages

This is the largest group, covering straightforward standing poses, a simplified icon-style design, a mandala pattern, and a color-by-number page. A soft white or pale gray base for the body pairs well with a gentle pink or lavender tint around the eyes and beak.

Doves in Flight and Nature

This set shows doves mid-flight, perched in a tree, or soaring against an open sky, capturing the graceful, easy flight doves are known for. These pages give colorists room to add clouds, branches, or a full outdoor scene around the bird.

Doves as Symbols of Love and Peace

This group leans into the dove’s long-standing symbolism, showing pairs of doves together, doves surrounded by flowers, or doves at a wedding, reflecting the bird’s real reputation for lasting pair bonds and devoted partnership.

Holiday and Seasonal Doves

This set places doves within specific seasonal themes, including Easter eggs and crosses, and a Christmas tree scene with stars, giving colorists options tied to particular times of year.

Character and Cultural Crossovers

This smaller group pairs doves with familiar characters and cultural imagery. These pages are included as part of the collection’s wider variety and can be colored just like any other design in the set.

What Doves Coloring Pages Do

A genuinely surprising family connection. Doves and pigeons are often treated as completely different birds, but they belong to the same family, with “dove” simply describing the smaller, paler members. Coloring a dove page gives a parent or teacher a natural opening to introduce this real classification fact using a bird children already find appealing.

Practicing detail on soft, layered feathers. The American Academy of Pediatrics identifies fine motor skill development as a core benefit of structured coloring for children ages 2 through 7, and a dove’s smooth, overlapping feathers and delicately shaped wings give children practice with soft, blended shading rather than sharp, high-contrast detail.

Understanding the real basis for a well-known symbol. The dove’s association with peace is not just decorative; it traces back to a specific 1949 artwork by Pablo Picasso, created for a real peace congress. That detail gives children a concrete historical anchor for a symbol they may already recognize from cards, art, or ceremonies.

A calm, gentle focus. A 2005 study in the Art Therapy Journal documented measurable reductions in anxiety following structured coloring sessions. The dove’s soft coloring, gentle cooing reputation, and peaceful associations give these pages a naturally calming quality well suited to a relaxed coloring session.

How to Color Dove Pages Well

• Body: Base the body in soft White or pale Gray, keeping the color smooth and even to match the dove’s gentle, muted plumage.
• Wings: Use a slightly deeper gray for the wingtips and flight feathers, layering the shading softly to suggest smooth, overlapping feathers.
• Eyes and beak: Color the small beak a pale pink or gray, and add a subtle ring of color around the eyes, since real doves often have soft-colored eye rings.
• Legs: Shade the thin legs a muted pink or gray, keeping them delicate rather than bold.
• Symbolic pages: On pages showing doves with flowers, wedding themes, or olive branches, use soft pastels in the background so the dove’s pale coloring still stands out as the clear focal point.
• Holiday pages: On Easter or Christmas-themed pages, use the season’s traditional colors for the background elements, pastels for Easter eggs, deep greens and reds for Christmas trees, while keeping the dove itself soft and pale.

5 Creative Craft Ideas With Doves Coloring Pages

1. Dove-and-pigeon fact card

Pair a colored dove page with a picture of a common pigeon and talk through why the two are actually part of the same bird family.

2. Crop milk fact card

Pair a colored dove page with a simple fact about how both dove parents feed their young a nutrient-rich substance called crop milk, a trait shared with only a few other bird families.

3. Peace symbol history poster

Pair a colored peace dove page with a short note about Picasso’s 1949 dove artwork and its connection to the modern peace symbol.

4. Wedding or celebration card

Use a colored dove couple or dove-and-flowers page as the front of a handmade card for a wedding, anniversary, or other celebration.

5. Seasonal ornament

Cut out a colored Easter or Christmas-themed dove page, laminate or glue it to cardstock, and attach a ribbon to hang as a simple seasonal decoration.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Doves’ coloring pages?

Doves coloring pages are free printable and online designs featuring these gentle birds in different poses and themes, including classic portraits, flight and nature scenes, symbolic love and peace pages, holiday themes, and character crossovers. This collection includes 27 designs that can be downloaded as PDFs or colored directly in the browser.

Are doves and pigeons the same bird?

Biologically, yes. Doves and pigeons both belong to the bird family Columbidae. There is no formal scientific split between them; “dove” is generally used for smaller, paler members of the family, while “pigeon” refers to larger, stockier ones.

What is crop milk?

Cow milk is a nutrient-rich substance produced in the udder of both parents to feed their young. This trait is shared with only a small number of other bird families, including flamingos and emperor penguins.

Do doves really mate for life?

Many doves, especially the mourning dove, form long-term pair bonds and often keep the same mate for life, which is part of why doves have long been associated with fidelity and devoted love.

Why is the dove a symbol of peace?

The dove’s modern role as a peace symbol is closely tied to Pablo Picasso’s 1949 lithograph “La Colombe,” created for the World Peace Congress, which helped popularize the image of a dove as a global symbol of peace.

Are Doves coloring pages suitable for young children?

Yes. The simplified classic portraits and ready-to-print pages work well for toddlers and young children, while the symbolic and holiday-themed pages give older kids and bird lovers more detailed options to color as well.

How many Doves coloring pages are available to download?

This collection includes 27 designs, covering classic portraits and ready-to-print pages, flight and nature scenes, symbolic love and peace pages, holiday themes, and character crossovers. Every page can be downloaded as a free PDF or colored online.

What is the difference between a squab and an adult dove?

A young dove is called a squab. Both parents feed squabs crop milk until they are old enough to eat solid food and eventually take on the smooth, pale plumage of an adult dove.

Start Coloring

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.