Free Picture-Book Drawing Sheets for Kids (Half-Letter, Fold Into a Book)
These free drawing sheets turn a stack of printer paper into a picture book. Each sheet holds two book pages, side by side, at the exact shape of a 5.5 by 8.5 inch book. Here’s what’s on them, how to print them, and how to make the finished pages into a booklet.
Download the drawing sheets (PDF)
What’s on a sheet
Each letter-size sheet, printed sideways, has two pages. A dotted line down the middle marks where to cut or fold. On each page:
- A drawing area in the same proportions as the printed book, so nothing gets stretched or cut off later.
- Four black corner marks at the corners of the drawing area. The top-left one has a small square hole in it. If you scan the pages with our app, the marks tell it exactly where the page is and which way is up.
- Nothing else. No lines, no borders, no characters to color in. The page is the child’s.
Printing them
- Paper: plain letter-size printer paper works. Slightly heavier paper (24 lb or 28 lb) holds up better to markers.
- Size: print at actual size (100%) if your printer offers it. “Fit to page” also works; it just makes the margins a little bigger.
- How many: one sheet makes two pages. An 8-page book needs four sheets, a 16-page book eight. Print a couple extra for false starts.
- One side only. Print single-sided, so markers don’t show through onto the next page.
Tips for young artists
- One drawing is one page. A whole story fits in 8 pages: a beginning, a few things that happen, and an ending.
- Draw inside the corner marks. Anything outside them won’t be part of the page.
- Bold colors print best. Crayons, markers and colored pencils pressed hard all work. Light pencil is hard to see once it’s scanned, so trace over pencil sketches with a marker or crayon.
- Color the whole page if you like. A sky colored edge to edge is great. So is a drawing on plain white paper.
- Leave room for words, or don’t. Kids can write on the page, or keep the words separate and add them later.
- Number the pages on the back. A small pencil number on the back of each sheet saves a lot of shuffling later.
Making a paper booklet
When the drawings are done, there are two easy ways to bind them.
Cut and staple
- Cut each sheet along the dotted line, so every page is its own half sheet.
- Stack the pages in order, with a cover on top if your child drew one.
- Staple two or three times along the left edge. Cover the staples with a strip of tape if little fingers will be turning the pages.
No scissors: fold and staple
- Have your child draw each story page on the right half of a sheet first, then the next page on the left half.
- Fold each sheet along the dotted line with the drawings on the outside.
- Stack the folded sheets in order and staple along the open edge, opposite the folds.
Either way, you have a real book with your child’s name on it. Put it on the shelf with the others; it belongs there.
For teachers
The sheets are made for classrooms: copy as many as you need, for free. Keep each student’s pages in a folder, and plan two or three pages per drawing session. Students who finish early can draw a cover or an “about the author” self-portrait. If you’re planning a whole unit, our free young authors unit adds a story planner and a certificate for the publishing party, and our I Love to Write Day activities include a five-week plan to finish a book by winter break.
Scanning them into a hardcover
The corner marks are there for a reason. When the I Wrote That Book app opens, a grown-up will be able to scan each page with a phone: the app finds the four marks, straightens the page exactly, cleans up the paper and keeps every color. Your child adds their words, and we print it as a real hardcover picture book with their name on the cover. Plain paper works with the app too; the sheets just make straightening perfect.
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