Printable Frames and Borders: Five Ways to Use an Empty Frame

An empty printable frame is a coloring page with a decorated border and nothing in the middle, and there are five good ways to use one: as a drawing mat, a photo mount, a name sign, a certificate and a card front. The six free frames on Coolorio run from thick simple borders for ages 2 to 5 to ornate art deco and museum designs for older children and adults, all sized for A4 or US Letter. Print one, color the border, and the middle becomes whatever you need that day.

Frames are the most flexible page in the free set because they ask a question instead of answering one: what goes inside?

Which frame suits which age?

The six free frames fall into two groups.

• Simple, thick borders for 2 to 6: Frame Stars, Frame Scallops and Frame Hearts. Big repeated shapes around the edge, with a wide open center. A toddler can color one star per sitting.
• Fine, ornate borders for 8 and up: Frame Floral, Frame Art Deco and Frame Classic Museum. Dense linework that rewards colored pencils and fine liners, and that looks finished enough to hang.

In between, a 6 or 7 year old can take on the floral frame with markers, leaving the finest details white.

Way 1: how do I use a frame as a drawing mat?

Print the frame, let the child color the border, then hand it back blank in the middle and ask for a drawing. The border turns a sheet of paper into an occasion. Children who say "I don't know what to draw" on a plain page will often fill a framed one, because the frame sets the size and promises the result will be displayed.

Tips:

1. Color the border first, so marker ink is dry before the drawing starts.
2. Suggest a subject tied to the frame: a night sky in the stars frame, a garden in the floral one.
3. Write the title and date in the bottom border in pencil.

Way 2: how do I use a frame as a photo mount?

Cut out the center of a colored frame with a craft knife, leaving about a centimeter inside the border, and tape a photo behind it. A 10 by 15 centimeter print fits comfortably inside an A4 frame. This is a five-minute gift for a grandparent that a four-year-old can make almost alone.

For a version that is entirely colorable, turn the photo itself into line art first. Coolorio makes a coloring page from a photo at four detail levels, so the child can color Grandma at the Simple level and then color the frame around her. Pair the frame's detail with the page's detail: stars frame with a Simple photo page, museum frame with a Detailed one. The how it works page shows the steps, and the first page is free.

Way 3: how do I use a frame as a name sign?

Write the child's name in large hollow letters across the center of a frame page, color both, and laminate it or slip it in a clear sleeve for the bedroom door. The hearts and scallops frames suit this best because their borders are soft and the center is wide. For a classroom, print one per child and hang them above coat hooks. Our guide to coloring pages with your child's name has more on lettering the name.

Way 4: how do I use a frame as a certificate?

The classic museum and art deco frames look official once colored in two or three restrained colors, gold and navy for instance. Write "Certificate of..." across the top of the center and fill in the achievement: learned to ride a bike, read a whole book, lost a first tooth, finished the alphabet. Sign and date it at the bottom. Children keep these far longer than you expect.

A grown-up version works too: a certificate for the best pancakes, awarded by the children to a parent, colored by the whole family.

Way 5: how do I use a frame as a card front?

Print the frame at a reduced scale, around 70 percent, so it fits one half of an A4 or US Letter sheet folded in two. Color the border, draw or write in the middle, fold, and you have a card with a hand-colored front. The hearts frame makes a birthday or Valentine card; the stars frame makes a Christmas card. Our guide to a Christmas card from a coloring page walks through the folding and the photo version.

What else can an empty frame hold?

• A pressed flower or leaf glued in the center
• A handprint in paint, dated
• The week's menu or the family's chore chart
• A pocket made from a second sheet, for the tooth fairy or a note
• A mirror drawn by the child, with their own face in it

Which tools work on fine frames?

The ornate frames have lines a crayon tip cannot follow. Use colored pencils, fine washable markers or gel pens, and slide a scrap sheet underneath. For the simple frames, anything goes, including dot markers, which make quick work of a row of stars. Our guide to the best coloring tools by age matches tools to detail.

Frequently asked

What size photo fits inside a printable frame?

A standard 10 by 15 centimeter print, or a 4 by 6 inch print, fits inside the free A4 and US Letter frames with the border intact. Cut the center opening slightly smaller than the photo, about 9 by 14 centimeters, so the photo edges are hidden behind the frame. For a square photo, trim the print rather than the frame.

Can I print a frame larger for a poster?

Yes. Print the frame at A3 at a copy shop, or print at 141 percent scale across two A4 sheets and tape them at the back. The ornate frames gain the most from the larger size, since the fine details become comfortable to color. A3 frames make good group projects, with one child on each side of the border.

What paper should I use for a frame that will be hung up?

Use 160 to 200 gsm card if the frame will hang unprotected or hold a photo, since standard copy paper curls and tears at the cut-out. For a frame that goes into a clear sleeve or gets laminated, standard 80 gsm paper is fine. Markers bleed less on the heavier card, which matters for the dense ornate designs.