The Best Paper for Printing Coloring Pages (Tested & Explained)

The honest answer first: for 90% of coloring pages, ordinary copy paper is perfectly fine. If your child is going to color a page in eleven minutes and then hang it on the fridge, spending money on premium paper is spending money on nothing.

But there are three situations where paper genuinely changes the result — and knowing which situation you're in saves both money and frustration. There is also one piece of shop-shelf jargon that trips up almost everybody, so we'll deal with that first.

First, the weights on the packet (this is where people go wrong)

Paper in the US is sold in pounds, and the same number can mean two completely different thicknesses depending on the word next to it. “65lb text” is thin — about 96gsm, barely heavier than copy paper. “65lb cover” is proper cardstock at around 176gsm. Same number, nearly double the thickness. If a packet just says “65lb” with no second word, look at the gsm figure on the back; it is never ambiguous.

The rest of the world uses grams per square metre, which is simply how much one square metre of the stuff weighs. Higher number, thicker paper. Here are the ones that actually matter for printables:

• 20lb bond / 75–80gsm — standard copy paper. What is already in your printer.
• 32lb bond / 120gsm — noticeably sturdier, still feeds like normal paper.
• 65lb cover / 176gsm — light cardstock. The sweet spot for markers.
• 80lb cover / 216gsm — firm card. Home printers start to complain.
• 110lb / 199gsm (index) or 300gsm (cover) — ask which one you are buying.
• 140lb watercolor / 300gsm — for wet media only.

1. Crayons and colored pencils: plain paper wins

Crayons and pencils deposit pigment on the surface. They don't soak in, they don't bleed, and they don't need weight to behave. Standard 20lb / 80gsm copy paper handles both beautifully, and there is no quality gain from spending more.

The one thing worth checking is brightness. It is printed on every ream as a number from roughly 84 to 100, and it measures how much blue light the sheet reflects. Budget paper sits at 84–92 and reads slightly yellow; 96 and above looks properly white, which makes black outlines crisper and colored pencil look cleaner. The difference between a 92-bright and a 96-bright ream is usually a pound or two across 500 sheets — pennies per page, and the most visible upgrade on this whole list.

There is a second number worth a glance: opacity. Thin, cheap paper lets the next page show through, which looks muddy when a child is coloring firmly. Anything at 20lb and 96 bright is opaque enough that you will never think about it again.

2. Markers: you need cardstock (or a sacrifice sheet)

Markers are where thin paper falls apart — literally. Alcohol-based markers (Copic, Ohuhu, and most “art” marker sets) bleed straight through copy paper and onto whatever is underneath, and even washable kids' markers will pill and tear the surface when a child colors enthusiastically over the same spot.

For markers, use 65lb / 176gsm cardstock or heavier. If you don't have cardstock, slide a spare sheet of paper underneath before coloring — it won't stop the bleed-through, but it saves your table. A cheap plastic placemat works even better and washes clean.

Water-based markers (Crayola and most supermarket sets) are far more forgiving. They will still soften copy paper if a child scrubs at one spot, but they rarely go through. If your markers are the washable kind and your child colors gently, plain paper is genuinely fine — don't buy cardstock you don't need.

3. Watercolor and gel pens: go heavier still

If your kid has discovered watercolor pencils, or you're coloring mandalas with gel pens, water and wet ink will buckle normal paper into a wavy mess that never lies flat again. 110lb cardstock or actual watercolor paper (140lb / 300gsm) stays flat because there is enough fibre to absorb the water without the sheet distorting.

This is genuinely the only case where expensive paper earns its price. One pack lasts a very long time, because you'll only reach for it occasionally — a twenty-sheet pad of watercolor paper will outlast several reams of copy paper in a normal household.

One practical warning: most home printers will not feed 300gsm watercolor paper from the main tray. If your printer has a rear or single-sheet feed, use it — that path is straighter and handles thick stock. If it doesn't, print the outline on cardstock instead and accept a little buckling, or take the file to a print shop.

Inkjet or laser makes a difference too

Inkjets spray liquid ink, so the paper's coating decides how sharp the line stays. On cheap, absorbent paper the ink wicks along the fibres and outlines look very slightly furry. On 96-bright copy paper or cardstock, they stay crisp. Laser printers fuse dry toner with heat, so they are much less fussy — a laser will produce a razor-sharp outline on the cheapest paper in the shop.

If you have a laser printer, there is one thing not to do: never feed it glossy inkjet photo paper. That coating is designed for liquid ink, not for a 200°C fuser, and it can melt inside the machine. Laser-safe glossy paper exists and says so on the packet.

What about printing wall art?

Printable wall art is a different job. Here you want matte photo paper or heavy cardstock — the color saturation on plain paper is disappointing behind glass, and the sheet visibly ripples in a frame. Matte is usually the better choice over glossy for framed art, because glass plus a glossy print doubles the reflections.

Alternatively, save the PDF to a USB stick and take it to a local print shop; most will print an A4 or letter-size art print on good stock for very little — often less than the cost of the photo paper you'd have bought. Ask for 200gsm matte or heavier.

A trick that works surprisingly well: print on plain paper first as a test, hold it in the frame, and only spend the good paper once you're sure about the placement. It costs one sheet and saves the annoyance of discovering the design sits too low behind the mount.

How much does any of this actually cost?

Worth keeping in perspective. A ream of 500 sheets of decent 96-bright copy paper works out at well under a penny a sheet. A hundred sheets of 65lb cardstock is somewhere between five and ten pence a sheet. Even the watercolor paper, used occasionally, costs less per page than a single coffee across a whole pad.

The expensive part of home printing has never been the paper — it's the ink. If you print a lot of pages, that is where to spend your attention, not on upgrading from a good copy paper to a slightly better one.

Quick reference

• Crayons / colored pencils → plain copy paper (96+ bright)
• Washable kids' markers → plain paper is usually fine; sacrifice sheet underneath
• Alcohol markers → 65lb cover / 176gsm cardstock
• Gel pens / watercolor → 110lb cardstock or 140lb watercolor paper
• Wall art → matte photo paper, heavy cardstock, or a print shop
• Worksheets and planners → plain paper, always

If you remember one thing: buy paper by its gsm number, get 96 brightness, and keep one small pack of 176gsm cardstock in the cupboard for marker days. That covers everything on this site.