Free Pete the Cat coloring pages: 54 printable PDF designs featuring the storybook Cat’s everyday adventures, holidays, and book-specific scenes, for kids of all ages. Each page can be downloaded as a PDF to print or colored online in the browser.
Pete the Cat is the blue Cat at the center of a children’s book series created by Eric Litwin and James Dean, beginning with Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes in 2010. The books share a defining structural device: whatever happens to Pete, his shoes changing color as he steps in messes, or the buttons popping off his favorite shirt in Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, he never cries. He keeps singing his song, a trait Publishers Weekly once called “a model of unflappability.” Litwin’s original four Pete books alone have sold more than 13 million copies combined and won 26 literacy awards, including a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor. This collection includes several pages tied directly to those two specific books, alongside a much larger set of everyday activity scenes, holiday pages, and simple portraits.
With 54 pages split into five groups, book-specific references, activities, and everyday scenes, holiday and seasonal pages, friends and character style portraits, and generic and drawing tutorial pages, the set works for a fan of the original books as well as anyone who wants a cheerful blue cat to color.
What Is Inside This Collection
The 54 pages fall into five groups, based on whether a page ties to a specific book, a scene, or a simple portrait.
Book-Specific References
5 pages tied directly to Pete’s shoes changing color or the buttons falling off his shirt, referencing I Love My White Shoes and His Four Groovy Buttons specifically. Keep the shoes White as a starting point on those pages, then experiment with Scarlet, Blue Bell, or Sepia to reflect the different messes from that story, and use a bright Scarlet or Sunglow shirt with four distinct buttons for the Groovy Buttons pages.
Activities and Everyday Scenes
13 pages showing Pete skateboarding, playing guitar, eating pizza, or spending time with a pet frog or turtle. Keep Pete in his classic Sky Blue and add a distinct accent color for whatever he’s using, Brown for a guitar or Scarlet for a skateboard, so the activity itself stands out.
Holiday and Seasonal Pages
5 pages tying Pete to a specific occasion: Christmas, Santa, and Valentine’s Day. Classic Scarlet and Forest Green suit the Christmas pages, while Carnation Pink fits the Valentine’s Day design.
Friends, Fashion, and Character Style Portraits
13 pages showing Pete alone or with friends in a particular mood or style, cute, funny, dressed up, or simply relaxing on a cloud. Sky Blue remains the base, with the accent colors varying freely depending on the mood the page is going for.
Generic, Utility, and Drawing Tutorial Pages
18 pages filed under repeated titles like “Printable Pete the Cat” or step-by-step drawing guides, rather than a specific scene. Default to Pete’s classic Sky Blue, since these carry no built-in theme of their own.
What These Pete the Cat Coloring Pages Do
Fine motor practice in simple, bold shapes. Coloring Pete’s rounded, simplified shapes and few but bold outlines asks for the same steady, contained strokes the American Academy of Pediatrics credits to the fine motor benefits of structured coloring, well-suited to the same young readers the books themselves are written for.
A calming activity that matches its own subject. A 2005 Art Therapy Journal study linked structured coloring to a measurable drop in anxiety, and a character built specifically around staying calm no matter what happens gives that calming activity a message that matches its own subject.
A chance to talk about staying calm. Because the books’ entire structure rests on Pete never getting upset when his shoes change color, or his buttons fall off, coloring a page from one of those specific scenes offers a natural chance to talk about staying calm when something doesn’t go as planned, the same lesson the story itself is built to teach.
A bridge to a specific book, not just the character. This collection connects most directly to two specific books, I Love My White Shoes and His Four Groovy Buttons, out of the many titles in the series; knowing which page ties to which story can help a parent or teacher pair the coloring page with an actual read-aloud.
How to Color Pete the Cat Pages Well
- Pete’s body: Classic Sky Blue is his signature, most recognizable color throughout the series.
- White Shoes pages: Keep the shoes White as a starting point, then try Scarlet, Blue Bell, or Sepia to reflect the different messes Pete steps in throughout that specific story.
- Groovy Buttons pages: A bright Scarlet or Sunglow shirt with four distinct, evenly spaced buttons captures the book’s central counting device.
- Guitar and music pages: Brown or Sepia for the guitar body, keeping Pete himself in his usual blue, so the instrument stands out as a separate object.
- Holiday pages: Classic Scarlet and Forest Green for Christmas scenes, Carnation Pink for Valentine’s Day.
- Generic and drawing tutorial pages: Default to Pete’s classic Sky Blue, since these pages have no specific story or scene attached.
5 Creative Craft Ideas With Pete the Cat Coloring Pages
1. Groovy Buttons Counting Card. Color one of the button pages, glue on four real buttons in a row, and remove one at a time while retelling the story.
2. Colorful Shoes Sequence. Color several copies of a shoe-focused page in different colors to retell the shoe-color sequence from the original book.
3. Pete the Cat Bookmark. Color a small Pete page, trim it to bookmark size, and cover it with clear tape or laminate for durability.
4. Handmade Greeting Card. Fold a piece of cardstock in half, glue a colored Pete page to the front, and write a message inside.
5. Calm-Down Card. Color one of the character portrait pages and write a simple reminder on the back, like “stay cool, keep singing,” to use as a calming visual reminder.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Pete the Cat coloring pages?
Printable designs featuring Pete the Cat, split between book-specific references, everyday activity scenes, holiday and seasonal pages, friends and character style portraits, and generic and drawing tutorial pages. This collection has 54 pages, free to download as a PDF or color directly online.
Who created Pete the Cat?
Pete the Cat is the main character in a children’s book series created by Eric Litwin and James Dean, beginning with Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes in 2010.
What makes Pete the Cat different from most other storybook characters?
Pete never cries or gets upset when something goes wrong, his shoes change color, his buttons fall off, he keeps singing his song instead. Publishers Weekly once described him as “a model of unflappability,” and that calm response is the central device running through the original books.
What is “Four Groovy Buttons” about?
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons follows Pete as the buttons on his favorite shirt pop off one at a time, turning the story into a simple counting-down book. It won a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award.
Are these official Pete the Cat coloring pages?
No. These are fan-made designs based on the Pete the Cat character and are not affiliated with, licensed by, or endorsed by Eric Litwin, James Dean, or their publishers.
Are Pete the Cat coloring pages suitable for young children?
Yes. Most pages use simple, rounded shapes that suit children as young as 3 or 4, matching the age range the original books are written for.
Which pages connect to specific Pete the Cat books?
A handful of pages reference the buttons falling off Pete’s shirt and his shoes changing color, tying directly to Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons and Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, the two most specific book references in the collection.
Can this collection be used alongside reading the actual books?
Yes. Coloring one of the button or shoe pages while reading the matching book gives a young child a visual anchor for the story, and can help reinforce the counting or color-recognition ideas each book is built around.
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.
