Meet the Cuties: Kid Friendly Paper Dolls to Color

Download the 4 Page Black and White PDF | Alex & Aspen Paper Dolls | Aster & Ariel Paper Dolls | Aubery & Adrian Paper Dolls | Avery & August Paper Dolls | More Cuties Paper Dolls & Clothing

To be 100% honest, I don’t have that much exposure to children.

It’s not intentional, but I don’t have kids and most of my friends also don’t have kids. However, I have a delightful niece and a wonderful nephew. Both of them love to color and I have spent many a family gathering coloring with them. One thing became extremely clear to me in 2024: many of my paper doll printables are… a lot. Like, ambitious. Possibly designed for people with the fine motor control of a watchmaker.

My niece explained this to me very politely as, “Some kids might have some trouble with some of them,” which I’m fairly certain translates to: This is unhinged, Aunt Rachel.

Friends, she was correct.

So I set to work designing a genuinely kid-friendly paper doll series.

My requirements:

Tabs big enough that little fingers can actually cut them out without losing their minds.

Linework simple and generous, with plenty of room for crayons, markers, or just joyful scribbles. I test colored several sets with crayons just to make sure I could and sized the dolls generously for crayon usage. (People can have preferences, but I love a crayon. Super fun way to color.)

Bodies designed to wear any outfits. That way you can mix, match, swap, repeat. Listen, if you want to dress up the same doll in a ballgown and a suit of armor, that should be 100% possible. The joy of paper dolls is their versatility and I am not about to dictate how children should play.

Years ago, I got a letter once from a reader saying their four year old son really wanted guy paper dolls with ballgowns and while I didn’t have any guy paper dolls at the time, I often think of that letter. That child is now probably in college (It’s been a very long time), but better late than never. Now, guy paper dolls can 100% have ballgowns that fit them properly.

Lastly, I wanted faces friendly and simple… absolutely not the kind that stare into your soul. Promise. Though I was warned by my friend that they might edge a little into terrifying, if I wasn’t careful.

So, here we are.

I’m planning to name each batch of dolls alphabetically, so here are some A dolls. Yes, I was looking for gender neutral names. Yes, Ariel was a guys name until Disney came along. Go read The Tempest. I digress.