How to Make Your Own Halloween Colouring Book in Canva

A Halloween colouring book is a lovely project for a rainy afternoon, a party activity or a little treat to hand out in October. You can make one in Canva using simple black-and-white artwork, then print it at home or save it as a PDF.

You do not need to be an illustrator to get started. The trick is to plan the pages first, choose pictures with clear spaces to colour, and print a test copy before making a whole stack. Here’s how to do it.

What you’ll need

• A Canva account

• A computer or tablet

• Halloween line art, whether drawn by you, uploaded with permission or selected from Canva’s Elements library

• A printer and paper if you want a physical book

• A stapler, hole punch and ribbon, or another way to hold the finished pages together

Making books to sell? Check the usage terms for every image you include. There’s more on that below.

Step 1: Plan your book before opening Canva

Decide who will use the book. Younger children usually enjoy large shapes, bold outlines and fewer tiny details. Older children may prefer busier scenes, patterns, puzzles and little challenges.

For a first book, try this 12-page plan:

1. Front cover

2. “This book belongs to” page

3. Pumpkin patch

4. Friendly ghosts

5. Haunted house

6. Witch’s cauldron

7. Black cat and bats

8. Spooky sweet shop

9. Halloween costume parade

10. Design your own monster

11. Halloween maze or drawing activity

12. Back cover

That gives you eight themed activity pages alongside the cover and finishing pages. You can make the book shorter or longer; the plan simply helps you avoid repeating the same scene.

If you’ll print on both sides of the paper and fold the sheets into a booklet, speak to your printer about page order and page counts before you design. For a simple book stapled down the left edge, you can keep the pages in normal reading order.

Step 2: Set up the page size

In Canva, select Create a design and choose an A4 document or enter a custom size of 210 × 297 mm. A4 is convenient for UK home printers. For a smaller finished book, you could instead design at A5, 148 × 210 mm.

Use a regular Canva design rather than Canva Docs so you can position the artwork precisely and use the available print guides. In the editor, look under File → Settings for Show margins. Canva may show some guides under Rulers and guides, depending on the editor you’re using.

Keep titles, page numbers and drawings comfortably inside the page edges. If you’ll staple the left side, leave a little more empty space there so the staples do not cover the artwork. A margin of around 10–15 mm is a useful starting point, but check your printer’s printable area.

Step 3: Make a cover that looks like the rest of the book

Start with a title such as My Spooky Halloween Colouring Book. Add a pumpkin, ghost or bat illustration and a space for the child’s name.

You can make the cover colourful, but a black-and-white cover has its own appeal: children can colour that in too. Whichever option you choose, use a title that is easy to read at the size you intend to print. A tiny subtitle may look fine on screen and disappear on paper.

Try choosing one or two fonts for the whole book. Use the same title style on the inside pages so everything feels like one collection.

Step 4: Find artwork that is genuinely suitable for colouring 

Open Canva’s Elements tab and try searches such as:

• pumpkin outline

• Halloween colouring page

• ghost line art

• witch hat outline

• haunted house line drawing

• black cat colouring

Choose images with closed outlines and generous white areas. A solid black silhouette, a shaded illustration or a picture filled with tiny marks will not leave much for a child to colour.

Click an element to see whether Canva offers colour controls. Some graphics let you change several colours; others are flat images with limited or no colour editing. If a picture does not work as line art, choose another graphic rather than assuming its fill and outline can be separated.

You can also upload drawings you made yourself. If you draw on paper, scan or photograph the page in even light, then check that the lines remain sharp when placed at print size.

Step 5: Build one strong inside page, then repeat its layout

Make your first colouring page with one main scene. Give the picture plenty of room and keep the background white. Add a short instruction if it contributes to the activity, for example:

• Colour the pumpkins in the patch

• Give each ghost a different expression

• What’s bubbling in the cauldron? Draw it in!

Once you’re happy with the spacing, duplicate that page and replace the picture and caption. This keeps your headings and margins consistent without rebuilding the layout each time.

Vary the activities as well as the pictures. One page could be a large scene, another could ask children to finish a drawing, and another could offer a simple maze. For a maze or word search, check that it has a working route or correct answers before adding it to the book.

Step 6: Add a personal finishing page

A “This book belongs to” page makes the book feel like a keepsake. You could also finish with a certificate:

Official Halloween Colouring Champion

Awarded to: ____________________

Leave enough space for a name and date. If you’re making books for a party, the back cover is a good place for a short message from the host.

Step 7: Check every page at its printed size

Before exporting, look through the book from beginning to end. Ask yourself:

• Is every picture actually colourable?

• Are the black outlines easy to see?

• Is there enough white space for crayons or pencils?

• Are any captions or drawings too close to the edge or binding?

• Are there any repeated pages, spelling mistakes or missing activities?

• Does the page order make sense?

Print one test copy if you can. A design can look beautifully crisp on a screen but print with faint lines or details that are too small. If children will use felt tips, test those on the paper too; thicker paper or printing on one side of each sheet can help with show-through.

Step 8: Download the finished PDF

Select Share → Download in Canva and choose PDF Print. Select all the pages you want in the book, download the file and open the PDF to check it before printing.

For an ordinary home-printed book with a white background and no artwork running to the edge, you generally do not need crop marks. If a print shop will trim a cover or pages with artwork right to the edge, ask for its bleed requirements first. Canva offers a Crop marks and bleed option with PDF Print, but your print shop should confirm the file it needs.

When printing at home, choose the actual size or 100% scale setting if your printer allows it, and check the preview so pages are not unexpectedly shrunk or cut off. For double-sided printing, make one test sheet first to check which way the reverse side comes out.

Stack the finished pages in order and staple them on the left, or punch holes and tie them with ribbon. Check that your chosen binding leaves the pictures easy to colour.

Can you sell a colouring book made in Canva?

Canva allows people to create and sell original designs using Canva content under its licence terms, but simply printing an individual Canva graphic as-is can breach those terms. Build your own finished pages with creative choices in their layout, text and activities. Check the current licence for any Canva content, outside artwork or templates you use, especially if you plan to sell a printed book or digital download.

If you are selling an editable Canva template rather than a finished PDF, check Canva’s separate template rules as well.

Make it your own

Your book does not have to be frightening to feel like Halloween. Friendly monsters, silly ghosts, pumpkin faces and costume ideas can give younger children plenty to do. You could even add a page where the family draws themselves dressed up for Halloween.

Once the book is finished, you can decorate the cover or party bags with custom stickers. Have artwork you’d like to turn into stickers? Visit Big Sals and see what you can create.

Happy colouring — and happy Halloween!