These 25 free octopus coloring pages for kids follow Olly the octopus through the ocean, from a big hello and a count of his eight arms to a shell drum band, a sleepy rest, and a big ocean celebration. Every page is free to download and print, or to color right in your browser, with no sign-up needed.
Olly’s pictures mix real octopus abilities with make-believe adventures. Real octopuses have eight arms, use suckers to grip and taste, and can hide in clever ways. Olly’s high-fives, party hats, and shell band belong to his imaginary underwater world.
Pick a page below to jump straight to it, or scroll through the whole book in order. You do not need a printer to enjoy these pages: tap Color Online under any picture to color it on your screen.
Choose your favorite octopus coloring page
Find a page fast: pick a scene, check its theme and difficulty, then tap the title to jump to it.
| Page | Scene | Theme | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Meet Olly | Meet Olly | Meet Olly | Simple |
| 2. Hello From the Front | Hello From the Front | Meet Olly | Simple |
| 3. Count My Eight Arms | Count My Eight Arms | Meet Olly | Simple |
| 4. Waving With All Eight | Waving With All Eight | Meet Olly | Simple |
| 5. The Starfish High-Five | The Starfish High-Five | Olly and friends | Simple |
| 6. The Big Eight-Arm Hug | The Big Eight-Arm Hug | Olly and friends | Simple |
| 7. Camouflage Spots | Camouflage Spots | Meet Olly | Simple |
| 8. The Cozy Den | The Cozy Den | Silly Olly | Simple |
| 9. The Shell Garden | The Shell Garden | Silly Olly | Simple |
| 10. Juggling Shells | Juggling Shells | Silly Olly | Medium |
| 11. Heart Peekaboo | Heart Peekaboo | Silly Olly | Simple |
| 12. Riding Tilly’s Shell | Riding Tilly’s Shell | Olly and friends | Medium |
| 13. The Shell Drum Band | The Shell Drum Band | Silly Olly | Medium |
| 14. Wally’s Heart Bubble | Wally’s Heart Bubble | Olly and friends | Medium |
| 15. The Great Squeeze | The Great Squeeze | Meet Olly | Simple |
| 16. The Kelp Maze | The Kelp Maze | Meet Olly | Medium |
| 17. Building a Shell Castle | Building a Shell Castle | Silly Olly | Medium |
| 18. Sleepy Olly | Sleepy Olly | Silly Olly | Simple |
| 19. The Glow Friends | The Glow Friends | Olly and friends | Medium |
| 20. Eight Party Hats | Eight Party Hats | Silly Olly | Medium |
| 21. The Seagrass Swing | The Seagrass Swing | Silly Olly | Simple |
| 22. Mama and the Babies | Mama and the Babies | Olly and friends | Simple |
| 23. The Bubble Ring Swimmer | The Bubble Ring Swimmer | Silly Olly | Simple |
| 24. Drawing in the Sand | Drawing in the Sand | Silly Olly | Simple |
| 25. The Big Celebration | The Big Celebration | Olly and friends | Medium |
How to use these octopus coloring pages
Jump to a part of the book: Meet Olly (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 15, 16) · Olly and friends (5, 6, 12, 14, 19, 22, 25) · Silly Olly (8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24)
Choose a picture below, then tap Download to print it or Color Online to color it in your browser. The pages run in book order.
Simple pages have large open shapes and few details. Medium pages have more objects and smaller spaces. The difficulty rating is my own guide for this book, not a fixed age level. Counts of one, two, and three suit ages 3 to 4, counts of four, five, six, and eight suit ages 4 to 5, and the two questions on page 25 suit ages 6 to 8 or need an adult’s help. On page 25, count the four octopuses first, then count all thirteen sea characters together, never as one total. On page 9, count one shell in Olly’s arm and five on the sand. On page 18, count the three stars first, then the one moon. On page 19, count the two jellyfish first, then the one anglerfish. On pages 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, and 25, point to each item as you count, and remember that the bubbles on those pages are not counted.
Meet Olly (Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 15, 16)
Seven pages of Olly on his own: a big hello, a count of his eight arms, a wave, a camouflage peek, a squeeze through a rock, and a hide in the kelp. The eight arms, the camouflage, the squeeze, and the hiding are real. The star, the smile, and the wave are pretend.
1. Meet Olly
Olly faces the viewer in front view, smiling, with a yellow star on his head, two big eyes, cheek circles, an open smile with his tongue out, and eight arms, with seaweed at the bottom and four bubbles. The star, the smile, and the tongue are pretend: real octopuses have no smiling mouth and no tongue. The front-facing pose and the eight arms are real. Count all four bubbles.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, four bubbles, and seaweed). Try this: Count all four bubbles.
2. Hello From the Front
Olly faces the viewer head-on, with two big eyes, a yellow star on his head, cheek circles, an open smile, and eight arms, with one smiling starfish beside him and two bubbles. The smiling starfish is pretend: starfish do not smile or pose for a hello. Facing forward with arms resting naturally is plausible. Count both bubbles.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, one starfish, and two bubbles). Try this: Count both bubbles.
3. Count My Eight Arms
Olly spreads his eight arms wide, four up and four down, for counting, with a yellow star on his head, two big eyes, cheek circles, an open smile, and three bubbles. Spreading all eight arms is real: octopuses spread their arms while resting, foraging, and displaying, and this picture makes a good counting lesson. Count all eight arms.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, eight arms, and three bubbles). Try this: Count all eight arms.
4. Waving With All Eight
Olly raises all eight arms and curls them, waving, with a yellow star on his head, two big eyes, cheek circles, an open smile, and four bubbles. Raising all eight arms together as a wave is staged: a human-style wave is not natural underwater movement. Describe it as Olly stretching and curling his eight arms as he explores the water. Count all eight arms.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, eight arms, and four bubbles). Try this: Count all eight arms.
7. Camouflage Spots
Olly peeks over a big spotted rock, his head covered in spots, with two arms visible above the rock, two bubbles, and seaweed. Camouflage is real: octopuses rapidly change their skin color and pattern, including spots, to blend into their surroundings. Count both bubbles.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, a spotted rock, and two bubbles). Try this: Count both bubbles.
15. The Great Squeeze
Olly squeezes through a round hole in a big spotted rock, his body half in and half out, with arms on both sides, about six bubbles, and coral. Squeezing is real: an octopus has no bones, so its soft body can squeeze through a tiny opening, and its hard beak is the main size limit. The bubbles on this page are approximate and are not counted.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, a spotted rock, and coral). Try this: Color the spotted rock gray and the coral pink.
16. The Kelp Maze
Olly hides among tall kelp blades in a dense maze, with his head and arms visible among the blades and about twelve bubbles. Hiding in kelp is real: octopuses use vegetation, rocks, and crevices for concealment, and they hunt among tall kelp and seagrass. The bubbles on this page are approximate and are not counted.
Difficulty: Medium (one octopus and tall kelp blades). Try this: Find Olly hiding in the kelp, then color the kelp green.
Olly and friends (Pages 5, 6, 12, 14, 19, 22, 25)
Seven pages of Olly with friends: a starfish high-five, a crab hug, a ride on Tilly’s shell, Wally’s heart bubble, the glow friends, Mama and the babies, and the big celebration. The friends are real ocean animals, and the glow is real. The high-five, the hug, the ride, the heart bubble, the family portrait, and the celebration are pretend fun.
5. The Starfish High-Five
Olly gives a high-five with one arm to a big smiling starfish, with one heart above the high-five, a rock with a small shell, and four bubbles. A deliberate high-five is pretend: octopuses can reach out and touch things, but they do not greet starfish with a high-five. Count the one starfish.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, one starfish, a heart, and four bubbles). Try this: Count the one starfish.
6. The Big Eight-Arm Hug
Olly hugs a small smiling crab with two arms wrapped around it, with eyes closed happily, two bubbles, seaweed, and a spiral shell. The hug is pretend: real octopuses eat crabs, and a crab wrapped in octopus arms is prey, not a cuddle buddy. Olly wraps two arms around his little crab friend for a pretend underwater hug. In real life, octopuses sometimes catch and eat crabs! Count the one crab.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, one crab, and two bubbles). Try this: Count the one crab.
12. Riding Tilly’s Shell
Olly rides on the back of Tilly the sea turtle, with her patterned shell and a big flower on it, spotted flippers, big eyes, and an open smile with a tongue, with six bubbles. Riding a turtle is pretend: octopuses do not ride sea turtles as mounts, and sea turtles are potential predators. Tilly is the same turtle as the Turtle book, with the big flower on her shell. Count the one turtle.
Difficulty: Medium (one octopus, one sea turtle, and six bubbles). Try this: Count the one turtle.
14. Wally’s Heart Bubble
Wally the whale blows a heart-shaped trail of bubbles from his spout, with Olly watching from the right, and about ten scattered bubbles. The heart-shaped trail is pretend: whales blow air from their blowholes and humpbacks make bubble nets to catch food, but they do not blow heart-shaped bubble trails underwater. A whale’s visible spout is exhaled air mixed with condensed moisture, not a stream of underwater bubbles. Wally is the same whale as the Whale book. Count the one heart-shaped bubble trail.
Difficulty: Medium (one whale, one octopus, and one heart-shaped bubble trail). Try this: Count the one heart-shaped bubble trail.
19. The Glow Friends
Olly waves one arm up beside two smiling jellyfish and one anglerfish, a round fish with a stalk and a glowing ball, with about ten bubbles. The glowing lure is real: many deep-sea female anglerfish have a glowing lure, and some jellyfish produce their own light. The friendly gathering is staged: these animals do not meet up as companions. Count the two jellyfish, then count the one anglerfish.
Difficulty: Medium (one octopus, two jellyfish, and one anglerfish). Try this: Count the two jellyfish, then count the one anglerfish.
22. Mama and the Babies
Mama, a big octopus with a shell clip, swims with three baby octopuses, four octopuses total, with about ten bubbles, seaweed, and coral. This is a pretend family portrait. In real life, an octopus mother protects her eggs until they hatch. Her babies then begin their own little ocean adventures. Count all four octopuses.
Difficulty: Simple (four octopuses, seaweed, and coral). Try this: Count all four octopuses.
25. The Big Celebration
Everyone is together: Olly plus three baby octopuses, Wally the whale, Tilly the turtle, one seahorse, one crab, one smiling starfish, and four small striped fish, thirteen characters total, with a bunting of eight shells across the top and about sixteen bubbles. The big celebration is a pretend gathering: octopuses are generally solitary, not social party animals. The thirteen are Olly, the three babies, Wally, Tilly, the seahorse, the crab, the starfish, and the four fish. How many octopuses can you find? Now count all the sea characters together, including Olly!
Difficulty: Medium (thirteen sea characters and a shell bunting). Try this: How many octopuses can you find? Now count all the sea characters together, including Olly!
Silly Olly (Pages 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24)
Eleven pages of silly Olly: a cozy den, a shell garden, juggling shells, a heart peekaboo, a shell drum band, a shell castle, a sleepy rest, eight party hats, a seagrass swing, a bubble ring, and drawings in the sand. The den, the shell piles, and the sleep are real. The juggling, the drums, the castle, the party hats, the swing, the bubble ring, and the drawings are make-believe.
8. The Cozy Den
Olly rests inside a stone den, an arch of five rounded stones, with five shells on the sand, seaweed, and no bubbles. Dens are real: octopuses shelter in rocky crevices, caves, and holes to stay safe from predators. Count all five shells.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, a stone den, and five shells). Try this: Count all five shells.
9. The Shell Garden
Olly holds up one spiral shell in a raised arm, with five shells on the sand and no bubbles. Shells near a den are real: discarded shells from eaten crabs and mollusks pile up outside a den entrance, a collection called a midden. Calling it a deliberately cultivated garden is pretend. Count all six shells: one in Olly’s arm and five on the sand.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus and six shells). Try this: Count all six shells: one in Olly’s arm and five on the sand.
10. Juggling Shells
Olly juggles three shells, a spiral, a scallop, and a spiral, with motion lines and eight bubbles. Juggling is pretend: octopuses do manipulate and play with objects, but a coordinated juggling performance is make-believe. Count all three shells.
Difficulty: Medium (one octopus, three shells, and eight bubbles). Try this: Count all three shells.
11. Heart Peekaboo
Olly peeks over a big heart shape that fills the lower half of the page, his head and two arms resting on top of the heart, with no bubbles. The book calls this page Peekaboo Ink Puff, but the picture shows a heart, not an ink cloud. Real octopus ink is a dark cloud squirted from the siphon to confuse predators, or a dense decoy shape, and it never forms a heart. Count the one heart.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus and one big heart). Try this: Count the one heart.
13. The Shell Drum Band
Olly plays drums: three big shell drums at the bottom, holding four shell drumsticks, with three sparkle stars and about ten bubbles. Playing a coordinated musical performance is pretend: octopuses can handle shells and other objects, but drumming is fantasy. Count all three shell drums.
Difficulty: Medium (one octopus, three shell drums, and four drumsticks). Try this: Count all three shell drums.
17. Building a Shell Castle
Olly builds a castle from shells: two spiral towers with scallop tops, one big scallop shell as the front, one bowl with three small shells, and one spiral shell held in an arm, with about six small dots. Building a decorative castle is pretend: octopuses really do collect, move, and pile shells at their den openings, but a structured castle with towers is human play. Count both shell towers.
Difficulty: Medium (one octopus, a shell castle, and two towers). Try this: Count both shell towers.
18. Sleepy Olly
Olly sleeps on the sand, lying down with eyes closed, a small closed smile, wearing a nightcap with a pom-pom, with a smiling crescent moon and three stars above and four bubbles. This is the only sleeping page in the book. Sleep is real: octopuses have quiet sleep and active sleep, and during active sleep their skin can change colors and patterns, almost as if they are dreaming. The nightcap and the smiling moon are pretend. Count the three stars, then count the one moon.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, a moon, three stars, and four bubbles). Try this: Count the three stars, then count the one moon.
20. Eight Party Hats
Olly wears eight party hats, seven small hats on his arm tips and one big hat on his head, with one balloon and a bunting of eight shells across the top, and about sixteen bubbles. Party hats, balloons, and shell bunting are pretend celebration props: octopuses do not wear hats or hang decorations. Count all eight party hats.
Difficulty: Medium (one octopus, eight party hats, and a balloon). Try this: Count all eight party hats.
21. The Seagrass Swing
Olly sits in a big scallop-shell swing hung from two seagrass stems, holding the ropes with four arms, with about twelve bubbles and seaweed. Sitting in a swing is pretend: octopuses can grip vegetation, but sitting in a suspended shell swing and holding ropes is imaginary. Count the one swing.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, one shell swing, and seagrass). Try this: Count the one swing.
23. The Bubble Ring Swimmer
Olly swims through a big bubble ring, a ring around his body with his arms through it, with two bubbles and seaweed. The bubble ring is pretend: octopuses do not blow bubble rings. Dolphins and belugas blow bubble rings, but octopuses move water through a siphon, not air. Olly swims through a magical ring of bubbles in this pretend underwater adventure. Count the one bubble ring.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, one bubble ring, and two bubbles). Try this: Count the one bubble ring.
24. Drawing in the Sand
Olly draws in the sand with one arm tip: a spiral, a heart, and a star drawn in the sand, holding four shells, with no bubbles and seaweed. Drawing recognizable shapes is pretend: octopuses explore and move things across the seafloor, and they poke in the sand for food with their arm tips, but they do not draw pictures. Count all three sand drawings.
Difficulty: Simple (one octopus, three sand drawings, and four shells). Try this: Count all three sand drawings.
How to download, print, or color online
Download: tap the Download button under any picture to save the clean image file, then print it from your device on plain paper.
Color Online: tap the Color Online button under any picture to open it in the coloring tool in your browser. Pick a color, then tap inside a shape to fill it. The black outlines stay put, and you do not need a printer at all.
Both options are free, and neither one needs a sign-up.
Olly’s colors
Olly looks the same on every page, and the colors stay the same too:
- Purple octopus (Olly).
- Yellow star on his head, with three dots below it.
- Two big round dark eyes with highlights.
- Pink cheek circles.
- Open smile with his tongue out.
- Eight arms with suckers on the undersides.
- Mama, a big octopus with a shell clip.
- Three baby octopuses.
Real octopuses come in many colors, including shades of purple, red, brown, yellow, and grey, and they can change their skin color and texture in milliseconds using chromatophores, iridophores, and papillae. Purple is a real octopus color, but do not take it as the only color: real octopuses are not always purple, and they change color to hide, hunt, and communicate. The yellow star, the pink cheek circles, the open smile, and the tongue are the cartoon’s friendly look: real octopuses have a mouth underneath their body, where their arms meet, and inside it is a hard, parrot-like beak. They have no lips and no human tongue. The round head is really the mantle, the rounded body of the octopus. The eight arms and the suckers on their undersides are real, and the suckers help an octopus grip things and even taste what it touches.
Those are Olly’s colors in the book. Your child can follow them, or choose any colors they like. Olly is the same on every page, from the first big hello on page 1 to the big celebration on page 25.
Octopus fun facts for curious kids
- An octopus has eight arms, and each arm is covered in little suckers. The suckers help it hold things, taste what it touches, and climb over rocks.
- An octopus has three hearts! Two hearts pump blood to the gills, and one heart pumps blood to the rest of the body.
- Many octopuses can quickly change their skin’s color and pattern. Some can also make their skin bumpy, helping them blend in with rocks, sand, or coral.
- An octopus has no bones, so its soft body can squeeze through tiny openings. If its hard beak can fit through a hole, the rest of its body can usually squeeze through too!
- An octopus has blue blood! Its blood uses a special copper-containing protein called hemocyanin to carry oxygen. This makes its blood look blue instead of red like ours.
- When an octopus feels threatened, it can squirt a dark cloud of ink into the water! The ink confuses predators while the octopus makes a quick getaway by squirting water through its siphon.
Creative ways to enjoy these octopus coloring pages
- Count while you color: count the four bubbles on page 1, the eight arms on page 3, the five shells on page 8, the six shells on page 9, and the eight party hats on page 20.
- Spot the pretend pages: ask your child which pages show real octopus life and which are make-believe.
- Find the friends: find Tilly the sea turtle on pages 12 and 25, Wally the whale on pages 14 and 25, the crab on pages 6 and 25, and the smiling starfish on pages 2, 5, and 25.
- Count the octopuses: count the four octopuses on page 22 and the four octopuses on page 25, then count all thirteen sea characters on page 25 together.
- Follow the journey: color page 1, Olly saying hello, and page 25, the big celebration, and put them side by side to see where the journey begins and ends.
- Tell the journey back: ask your child to retell Olly’s journey using the finished pages, from the first big hello to the big celebration.
Octopus coloring pages: questions
Are these octopus coloring pages free?
Yes. All 25 pages are free to download or color online, with no sign-up needed.
Do I need to sign up to download a page?
No. Tap Download under any picture to save the clean image file. No account, no email.
Can I color the pages online?
Yes. Tap Color Online under any picture to open it in the coloring tool in your browser. No printer needed.
Do I need a printer?
No. Every page can be colored online. If you do want to print, download the image and print it from your device.
What ages are these pages for?
Ages 3 to 8. Simple pages suit the youngest colorers, and Medium pages give older kids more to color. Counts of one, two, and three suit ages 3 to 4, counts of four, five, six, and eight suit ages 4 to 5, and the two questions on page 25 suit ages 6 to 8 or need an adult’s help.
Do octopuses really have eight arms?
Yes. An octopus has exactly eight arms, and each arm is covered in little suckers that help it hold things, taste what it touches, and climb over rocks. They are arms, not tentacles: squid have eight arms plus two longer tentacles. Page 3 shows all eight of Olly’s arms spread wide for counting.
Do octopus mothers really raise their babies?
No. A real octopus mother protects her eggs until they hatch, then she dies around the time they hatch, and the babies begin life on their own. Page 22 shows Mama with three babies as a pretend family portrait. The book presents it that way, but real octopus mothers do not raise their babies.
Which pages include counting?
Several pages are built for counting: page 1 has four bubbles, page 3 has eight arms, page 8 has five shells, page 9 has six shells, and page 20 has eight party hats. Point to each one and count out loud as you color it. On page 25, count the four octopuses first, then count all thirteen sea characters together as two separate questions, never as one total. On page 9, count one shell in Olly’s arm and five on the sand.
More ocean books to color
Olly is our eighth ocean book. See the ocean coloring pages for the whole set as it grows, and meet Sandy in the seahorse coloring pages, the jellyfish in the jellyfish coloring pages, Wally in the whale coloring pages, Tilly in the sea turtle coloring pages, the penguin in the penguin coloring pages, the shark in the shark coloring pages, and the dolphin in the dolphin coloring pages.
