Color Our Collections is a feature of the Smithsonian Learning Lab. Within the collection you will find coloring pages based on some of the art work housed by the Smithsonian. One of the sets of coloring pages that was recently featured in a Smithsonian Learning Lab email was this collection of coloring pages based on portraits housed in the National Portrait Gallery. 

Some of the portraits included in the National Portrait Gallery coloring pages are of Rosa Parks, Thelonious Monk, Thomas Edison, and George Washington. Each coloring page in the collection appears next to an image of the original portrait. By clicking on the image of the portrait students can read about the person featured in the portrait. The description accompanying each portrait also includes some information about the artist who painted the portrait. 

Like most collections in the Smithsonian Learning Lab, the National Portrait Gallery coloring pages can be shared in your LMS of choice and can be embedded into pages within your own website.  

Applications for Education

Having students color some of the National Portrait Gallery coloring pages could be a nice way for young students to be introduced to some significant people in U.S. history.

The New York Academy of Medicine has a similar collection of historical images that have been turned into coloring pages for students. You can learn more about that collection in this blog post.