Cartoon fairy riding a dragonfly above a pond with cattails, lily pads, clouds, and a bird

Fairy Riding a Dragonfly Over the Pond

A smiling fairy grips a dragonfly’s neck as they skim over pond ripples between tall cattails and floating lily pads.

🎨 How to color it

Give the fairy’s tunic a soft violet, the dragonfly a sky blue body with pale green wings, and the cattails warm brown tops above deep green reeds. Use chunky crayons or washable markers for the big wings and pond rings, and don’t worry if little hands color past the splash lines. Try making the dragonfly’s four wings in alternating light blue and mint so they look like they are flickering over the water.

The story behind this coloring page

Why Dragonflies Tap Ponds — Between the cattails, Juniper carried a small reed ring in her pocket. It looked like nothing but a loop, yet it had been her father’s napkin ring, smooth from his thumb. Read the full story →

Between the cattails, Juniper carried a small reed ring in her pocket. It looked like nothing but a loop, yet it had been her father’s napkin ring, smooth from his thumb. She wanted the pond to sleep; all morning it had made plip, plip, plip sounds like tiny tears.

A dragonfly named Brisk let Juniper climb on. Over the water they flew, cool mist kissing her knees. Juniper slipped the reed ring around Brisk’s neck like a gentle bell. “Tap once,” she whispered. Brisk’s tail touched the pond, and a round ripple sang hum. Tap, hum. Tap, hum.

No frog thanked them. No bird bowed. Still, the pond grew quiet and silver. Ever since, dragonflies tap ponds with their tails to leave soft rings of comfort, and if you find Juniper over the cattails, can you spot the first hush-circle spreading below?