Table of Contents
SpongeBob has been on air since 1999, long enough that most of the children coloring these spongebob coloring pages have a parent who watched the same show at the same age. The set leans on that. Rather than pulling scenes from particular episodes, it draws him doing the ordinary things he is always doing anyway. There are 75 designs, and 68 of them are SpongeBob himself.
The other seven are the rest of Bikini Bottom: Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, Plankton, Pearl, Larry and the Flying Dutchman’s ship. The rest divide into three at the Krusty Krab grill, ten in costume, fifteen playing sport, thirteen outdoors, seventeen around the pineapple on an ordinary day, and ten of parties and weather. Every group is described under the grid.
Every one of these spongebob coloring pages is free. Each design prints on standard US Letter paper, there is no sign-up, and the spongebob coloring sheets can be printed as many times as you need. Click any design below to open the full-size PDF.
What’s in These Spongebob Coloring Pages
The rest of Bikini Bottom
Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, Plankton, Pearl, Larry and the Flying Dutchman’s ship. Squidward is the one worth explaining while a child colors him: he is an octopus, not a squid. He has six limbs rather than eight because drawing eight was too much work in every frame, and Stephen Hillenburg kept the squid name anyway because Octoward did not sound like anything.
Behind the grill
Flipping a Krabby Patty, cooking in the chef’s hat, and juggling spatulas. Hillenburg taught marine biology before he ever worked in animation, and he built the whole cast out of things he had taught about, a sponge, a starfish, an octopus, a crab, a whale, and a copepod called Plankton. Sandy the squirrel is the one deliberate outsider, which is exactly why she needs the helmet.
Dressing up for the job
Doctor, firefighter, mailman, magician, cowboy, pirate, superhero, scientist, tuxedo and cheerleader. These ten are the easiest in the set to color well, because each one has a single strong object in it, a hose, a lasso, a top hat, that a child can make the brightest thing on the page and get an instant result.
Sports and stunts
Fifteen designs of him moving. Worth knowing before the karate ones: a real sea sponge cannot move at all. It has no brain, no heart, no muscles and no nerves, and spends its entire life fixed to one spot pumping water through itself. The joke underneath the character is that he is the least athletic animal in the ocean.
Out around Bikini Bottom
Jellyfishing, fishing, two boats, a kite, a balloon, a campfire, a telescope, a tree swing, a slide, a flower, a rainbow and the clouds. The jellyfishing page is the one to point out: real jellyfish have no brain, no bones and no heart either, and they have been drifting the oceans for something like 500 million years, which is longer than trees have existed.
Days at the pineapple
Seventeen designs, the biggest group here, and the quietest. Sleeping, brushing teeth, vacuuming, laundry, a plant, Gary, video games, a book, a journal, an easel, a guitar, a drum, blocks, the mirror and two sitting poses. Gary is a sea snail who meows like a cat, which is the show’s oldest running joke and one nobody has ever explained.
Parties, treats and weather
A birthday cake, a present, a party horn, a bubble, ice cream, a camera, a hug, a cardboard box, a snowman and an umbrella. The snowman and the umbrella are the odd pair in a town at the bottom of the sea, and children tend to notice that before adults do.
If the ocean half is the part that holds their attention, the ocean animals coloring pages cover the real versions of everything in Bikini Bottom, and the shark collection goes further out to sea. If it is the cartoon half, these spongebob coloring pages sit naturally alongside the PAW Patrol and Peppa Pig sets, which suit roughly the same ages.
Coloring Tips
Yellow first, everything else after. SpongeBob is the same yellow on all 68 of his pages, so that color is the one thing tying the whole set together. Doing him first on every sheet, with the same pencil, keeps him recognizable from page to page. It also stops the common mistake of reaching for a darker yellow later in a long session as the hand gets tired.
His holes are shadows, not spots. The round marks all over him are dents in a sponge, not markings. Putting a slightly darker yellow or a light brown inside each one, rather than a different color, is what makes him look like a sponge instead of a slice of cheese. It is the single detail that separates a finished page from a flat one.
Squidward is not green, he is blue-green. He reads as green on a screen but he sits much closer to teal, and coloring him a grass green next to SpongeBob’s yellow makes both look wrong. A blue-green, or green with a blue pencil taken lightly over the top, is closer and separates him from Sandy’s brown and Patrick’s pink.
Patrick is pink with purple, not pink alone. His swim shorts are green with purple flowers, and that purple is what stops the Patrick page turning into one flat block of pink. The same applies to Pearl, a whale in a cheerleading outfit needs the outfit to carry the color, because she is pale everywhere else.
Let the background pages breathe. The pineapple window, the campfire, the telescope and the clouds all have a lot of open space around the drawing. Filling every bit of it flattens the page. Leaving the sky mostly white and putting color only near the horizon or around the fire keeps the eye where it should be.
Start younger children on the single-object pages. The balloon, the ice cream, the party horn, the flower, the umbrella and the hug have one thing in them and very few lines. Those suit a three or four year old. Save the science lab, the Flying Dutchman’s ship, the disco and the jellyfishing page for someone older, they have the most going on and the most small shapes to work around.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these spongebob coloring pages really free?
Yes, all 75 are free to download and print. Click any design to open the PDF. No account, no email, no payment.
What age are these spongebob coloring pages for?
Mostly the younger end. The single-object designs, the balloon, the ice cream, the flower, the hug, suit children from around three. Most of the set works well from four to eight. The science lab, the disco, the jellyfishing page and the Flying Dutchman’s ship have enough detail to keep a nine or ten year old busy.
Can I use these in a classroom?
Yes. They are free for personal, educational and classroom use. The costume designs work for topics on jobs and community helpers, and the ocean pages fit a sea life unit.
Can I print more than one copy?
As many as you need. The spongebob coloring sheets can go out to a whole class or a birthday party without asking.
Is this official SpongeBob merchandise?
No, these are fan-made coloring pages inspired by the characters and art style. They are not produced, licensed or endorsed by Nickelodeon or Paramount. Free for personal and classroom use, not for resale.
Why is Squidward called Squidward if he is an octopus?
Because the name came first and it was the better word. Stephen Hillenburg was a marine biology teacher before he was an animator and knew exactly what he had drawn, an octopus, and one with six limbs rather than eight, because eight had to be drawn in every single frame. He has said the character was always meant to be an octopus, and that Squidward simply sounded better than the alternative. Nearly everyone in Bikini Bottom is a real animal he used to teach about: a sponge, a starfish, a crab, a whale, a lobster, and a copepod named Plankton, which is genuinely what that group of animals is called.
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