Cute activity books for kids: 15 adorable books for drawing, painting, stickers and more

Some activities are fun. Some are creative. And some come with kittens, cupcakes, unicorns and smiley-faced clouds, which makes them very hard to resist.

Usborne’s cutest activity books bring together drawing, colouring, stickers, magic painting, puzzles and simple crafts, with adorable characters appearing at every turn. There are easy activities for younger children discovering what they can do with a pencil or paintbrush, as well as bigger activity books and creative projects for children ready for a little more of a challenge.

Whether they love puppies, unicorns, cosy shops or anything with a cute little face, here are 15 activity books to get busy with.

Cute drawing and colouring books

Step-by-Step Drawing Cute Things

Best for: budding illustrators

Cupcakes with faces? Absolutely. Adorable clouds? Obviously. Step-by-Step Drawing Cute Things shows children how to create all sorts of cute pictures, from cats and bunnies to burgers and cupcakes.

Each picture is broken down into clear illustrated steps, with plenty of space for children to have a go themselves. It’s a friendly way to get started with drawing when a blank page feels a little too blank, and there are lots of opportunities to add your own personality to every creation.

Cute Things to Draw and Colour

Best for: children who want to draw AND colour

Why choose between drawing and colouring?

Cute Things to Draw and Colour is packed with pictures including bunnies, bubble tea, clouds and cupcakes to colour in. There are also step-by-step instructions showing children how to add cute drawings of their own.

It’s an easy book to dip in and out of, whether there are five minutes to fill or a whole afternoon waiting for an explosion of pencils and felt tips.

Cute Easter Things to Draw and Colour

Best for: a springtime creative activity

Give drawing and colouring a seasonal twist with Cute Easter Things to Draw and Colour. This Easter-themed addition to the cute colouring collection gives children another excuse to get the pencils out and fill the pages with colour, as well as have a go at drawing cute things themselves.

Pop it away with the Easter decorations and it can become part of the springtime fun whenever the season rolls around again.

Magic painting books: just add water

Painting is great. Paint on the table, paint on sleeves and a mysteriously colourful elbow? Sometimes less great.

Usborne’s First Magic Painting books work differently. Children brush water over the black-and-white designs and watch colours appear on the page. The books include a brush and a waterproof back flap that can be placed behind the page being painted.

Big Cute Magic Painting Book

Best for: maximum cuteness and plenty to paint

Kittens, puppies and unicorns all turn up in Big Cute Magic Painting Book.

There are 48 pages to paint, making this a bumper choice for children who can happily spend a long time creating. Simply dip the brush in water, sweep it across the black-and-white pictures and watch the colours appear.

No palette of paints required, just add water and start discovering what each picture is hiding.

First Magic Painting Cute Puppies

Best for: puppy fans

Expect plenty of playing, frolicking and snuggling in First Magic Painting Cute Puppies.

The simple black-and-white puppy pictures transform as children brush them with water and reveal the colours underneath. With 16 pictures to paint, it’s a particularly tempting choice for young dog lovers.

First Magic Painting Cute Unicorns

Best for: a little everyday magic

For children who believe everything is improved by the addition of a unicorn, there’s First Magic Painting Cute Unicorns.

The pages feature cute unicorns and their babies, with colours appearing as children sweep a wet brush over each black-and-white design. There are 16 pictures to bring to life, all with the rather magical trick of needing only water to do it.

First Magic Painting Cute Kittens

Best for: cat lovers

Purring, playing and generally being extremely cute, the kittens in First Magic Painting Cute Kittens are ready for their colours.

Children simply brush water over the black-and-white pictures and watch the hidden colours appear. It’s a pleasingly simple creative activity for anyone whose idea of the perfect picture involves whiskers, paws and a particularly fluffy tail.

Cute sticker books for little imaginations

Stickers put children in charge. Should that puppy go here? Would another unicorn improve this palace? Could the bakery possibly need one more cupcake?

Probably.

Cute Stickers Kittens

Best for: kitten enthusiasts

Playing, snoozing or simply hanging out with their feline friends, the kittens in Cute Stickers Kittens have mastered being adorable.

Children can add 165 stickers to the different scenes, deciding where each kitten belongs and creating pictures of their own as they go.

Cute Stickers Puppies

Best for: dog lovers

Wagging tails, tasty treats and puppy pals fill the pages of Cute Stickers Puppies.

With more than 150 stickers, children can complete scenes of playful puppies frolicking and having fun. It’s an easy pick for anyone who tends to stop mid-conversation whenever a puppy walks past.

Cute Stickers Unicorns

Best for: magical sticker scenes

Meadows. Waterfalls. Palaces. Skies. What could they all use more of? Unicorns.

Cute Stickers Unicorns lets children fill each setting with super-cute unicorn stickers, illustrated in a kawaii-inspired style. The result is a sticker book with plenty of opportunities to decide exactly where all that unicorn magic should go.

The Cosy Bakery Sticker Book

Best for: children who like their activities extra cosy

Welcome to the bakery, where Fran, pastry chef Edith and helpers Ollie and Josh are busy making bread, cakes and pastries for Cosy Town.

Children can help fill the bakery shelves with stickers of pastries, cupcakes and croissants. With more than 150 stickers to use, The Cosy Bakery Sticker Book combines imaginative sticker play with a setting that feels almost good enough to eat.

The Cosy Flower Shop Sticker Book

Best for: fans of pretty, cosy sticker scenes

For another little trip into a cosy world, The Cosy Flower Shop Sticker Book takes the sticker-book fun into a flower-shop setting.

It’s a lovely choice for children drawn to colourful, decorative scenes and the simple pleasure of deciding exactly where every sticker should go.

One big book of cute activities

Big Cute Activity Book

Best for: children who like a bit of everything

Can’t decide between puzzles, drawing, colouring, stickers and things to make? 

Big Cute Activity Book packs several kinds of activities into one chunky collection. Children can solve cute puzzles, follow step-by-step drawing activities, colour pictures and complete scenes with stickers.

There are press-out activities too, with creations including cute play figures. It’s the sort of book to reach for when “I’m bored” has just been announced from the other side of the room.

Cute seasonal activity books and crafts

Some creative books earn their place on the shelf all year. Others are even more fun when the pumpkins, fairy lights or Easter decorations make an appearance.

Cute Halloween Window Art

Best for: cute rather than creepy Halloween crafting

Pumpkins, bats, ghosts and cats get a particularly sweet makeover in Cute Halloween Window Art.

Children colour the specially designed paper, cut out their creations and add them to windows as Halloween decorations. There are puzzles on the facing pages too, so the fun doesn’t stop once the colouring is finished.

It’s Halloween crafting with considerably more “aww” than “argh!”.

Cute Christmas Window Art

Best for: homemade Christmas decorations

Cute Christmas Window Art turns colouring time into festive decorating time.

There are 14 festive pictures printed on translucent paper. Children colour them with felt-tip pens, remove the finished pictures and attach them to a window so light can shine through.

There are puzzles and drawing activities to complete as well, making this part activity book, part Christmas craft project and part excuse to make the windows look wonderfully festive.

How to choose a cute activity book

The best activity book depends on what your child most wants to do.

For children who are forever asking how to draw something, start with Step-by-Step Drawing Cute Things or Cute Things to Draw and Colour. If painting is the favourite, the magic painting books offer a simple just-add-water activity. Sticker fans can choose between puppies, kittens, unicorns and cosy little worlds, while Big Cute Activity Book is a good option when variety is the main attraction.

And for a creative project that can become part of the decorations, the Halloween and Christmas window-art books offer something to make as well as something to colour.

Most importantly, there’s room in all these activities for children to make choices of their own: which colours to use, where a sticker belongs, what to draw next or exactly how many cute faces one cupcake really needs.

We’re voting for at least two.