Boy with backpack walking toward school, flag, bell tower, open doors, and falling leaves on the first day.

Boy Walking to School on the First Day

A backpacked boy walks under drifting autumn leaves toward open school doors, a waving flag, and a bell tower above the steps.

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🎨 How to color it

Color the boy’s backpack navy blue, his jacket golden yellow, the school bricks warm red, and the flag bright red, white, and blue. Use colored pencils for the small window panes, brick lines, and leaf shapes, then switch to broader strokes on the sidewalk and school walls. Try making the falling leaves a slow mix of orange, russet, and pale yellow so the path feels like a first-day trail.

The story behind this coloring page

The Bell’s Waiting Game — All along the sidewalk, dry leaves ticked and skittered around Arlo’s shoes. Read the full story →

All along the sidewalk, dry leaves ticked and skittered around Arlo’s shoes. He wanted to reach the school doors without hurrying, so he invented a game: step only when a leaf touched the ground, count it, and let the next leaf decide. One leaf. Two leaves. His backpack straps creaked softly, and the new pencils inside smelled like cedar.

By the flagpole, the bell tower stayed quiet. Children rushed past, but Arlo waited for a curled maple leaf to spin down, whispering, “Your turn, little leaf.” At ten, he stepped onto the first stair. At eleven, the door opened wider. At twelve, the old bell gave one gentle bong, exactly as his foot reached the top.

From then on, the first bell of every school year waited for the patient count of falling leaves. If you follow Arlo’s path with your eyes, can you find the leaf that made the bell ring?