This month I'm calling our coloring pages the Village Shop "Playable Printable!" Catchy name, right? We are super fortunate that children's book illustrator and author Melanie Hope Greenberg designed four adorable village shops to recreate pretend play scenes from her newly re-released book, Aunt Lilly's Laundromat.
(Note: this post contains affiliate links.)
Although, of course, your children can color and craft their own village all year round, but this "playable printable" idea is perfect for the holiday season! Imagine setting up a cute little village street lined with shops under the Christmas tree, or in a window just like they do on 5th Avenue!
How to put together the shops is most likely totally obvious to you, but let me walk you through the steps anyhow...
How to Create a Playable Printable Village
Step 1: Read Aunt Lilly's Laundromat.
Step 2: print out the village shop coloring pages. I used regular weight paper, but for sturdier buildings you may choose to use card stock or heavy weight paper.
Download and print (by clicking here you agree to our terms of service* see below): Village shop coloring pages
Step 3: Color the shops. Use colored pencils, pens, crayons, whatever your child likes best. Color them any way you want! No rules, people. No rules.
Step 4: Cut out the shops along the outlines.
Step 5: Fold back the solid lines of the bottom and side tabs. The side tabs will stabilize the buildings. If you like, you can tape the tabs in place, but I found I didn't need to.
Step 6: Bring out the toy cars and tiny dolls for some pretend play!
Guess what, folks! This is not the only Aunt Lilly coloring page we have:
- Color a scene from the book: Aunt Lilly's Laundromat Coloring Page
Add more 3-D buildings and vehicles to your village scene with more of Melanie's coloring pages:
- Pizza shop and school coloring page template
- School bus coloring page template
- Subway train coloring page template
Meet the Illustrator
Melanie Hope Greenberg is an award winning author and illustrator of more than 15 children’s books and she loves to teach about the art of children's books in the classroom! Her cheerful book, Mermaids on Parade, which depicts the iconic Coney Island celebratory Mermaid Parade, was selected as a Bank Street Best Book, and for the Texas Reading Club and PBS Kids Summer Reading Lists.
Melanie also does wonderful school and library visits where she shares with children the process of writing and illustrating children's books. Learn more about her visits at her website.
Melanie's picture book, Aunt Lilly's Laundromat, has now been re-published in paperback. The book takes place in Melanie's neighborhood laundromat on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. Originally published by Penguin USA in 1994, the book is catalogued into the library system, and has reviews from top trades reviewers. Aunt Lilly's Laundromat is Print-On-Demand with Ingram Sparks and can be purchased by schools, libraries, stores, and the public in general.
“Succeeds as a celebration of fond memory and honest labor.” –Publisher’s Weekly.
To learn more and order choose one of the following:
I hope you also check out Melanie’s newest book, Americanly, an ode to all the diverse locations in the United States. You can order it directly from Melanie here. And we have a coloring page for Americanly too!
Are you looking for the perfect book gift? I’m sure you know a kid who likes diggers! Or mermaids? Or subways? Melanie signs all copies of her books purchased through her Amazon vendor link.
*Terms of Service: this coloring page is used with permission from Melanie Hope Greenberg and is for non-commercial use ONLY. You many print out as many copies as you like for personal, library or classroom use. If you would like to share this coloring page, you MUST link to this blog page. It is expressly forbidden to link directly to the coloring page pdf file.
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