Art · Drawing and colouring worksheet
How to Draw a Face: Free KS2 Art Worksheet (Ages 7 to 9)
Drawing a face feels difficult to many children, yet most of the difficulty comes from placing the features in the wrong spot rather than from poor drawing. This free worksheet shares the one rule professional illustrators rely on: the eyes sit roughly halfway down the head, not near the top.
Designed for KS2 children aged 7 to 9, the sheet pairs a short written task on where each feature belongs with a friendly portrait to colour. It prints cleanly to a single A4 page, so it works equally well for a home art afternoon or a primary classroom lesson on drawing techniques.
How to Draw a Face
Free Art worksheet · Ages 7 to 9
Where does each feature belong?
Read each question about the face and write your answer on the line. Use the help box if you need it.
Where on the head do the eyes belong?
Where does the nose sit?
Where does the mouth go?
Where are the ears found?
Where does the hair sit?
Colour the portrait
Now colour the face. Choose colours for the skin, eyes and hair to match yourself, someone you know, or a character you invent.
- Colour the hair your favourite hair colour
- Colour the eyes carefully, keeping inside the lines
- Colour the rest of the face with a skin colour you choose
How to Draw a Faceowee.worldAnswer key
- Where on the head do the eyes belong? — halfway down the head
- Where does the nose sit? — between the eyes and the chin
- Where does the mouth go? — below the nose
- Where are the ears found? — the sides of the head
- Where does the hair sit? — the top of the head
Why face proportions matter
When children draw a face from imagination, they almost always crowd the eyes, nose and mouth into the top third of the head. The result looks baby-like or unbalanced, which can be discouraging. Teaching a simple proportion rule early gives children a reliable framework they can return to every time they draw a portrait. The key idea is that the eyes fall at the halfway line of the head, leaving generous room above for the forehead and hair. From there, the other features follow: the nose sits about halfway between the eyes and the chin, and the mouth a little below that. Understanding this structure builds confidence and helps children see drawing as something that can be learned, not a fixed talent.
How to use this worksheet
Begin by talking through the proportions together using the colourable portrait as a reference. Invite the child to point to the eyes and notice how they sit roughly in the middle of the head rather than near the top. Then work through the short written questions, which check that the child can describe where each feature belongs in their own words. Finally, let the child colour the portrait, choosing skin, hair and eye colours that match themselves, a family member or an invented character. The colouring stage is not just decoration: it encourages careful observation of the separate shapes that make up a face, which is exactly the skill the written task reinforces.
Extending the activity
Once children understand the basic layout, they are ready to draw their own faces from scratch. A useful next step is to fold or lightly pencil a faint horizontal line across the middle of an oval and use it to place the eyes, then a second light line halfway down again for the nose. Encourage experimenting with different expressions by changing only the eyebrows and mouth, which shows how much feeling a face can convey with very small changes. For a cross-curricular link, children can draw a self-portrait to accompany a piece of writing about themselves, or sketch the face of a historical figure they are studying.
Linking to the KS2 curriculum
This worksheet supports the Key Stage 2 art and design programme of study, which asks pupils to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, with a range of materials. Learning a structured approach to portraiture is a clear, age-appropriate way to develop drawing technique. It also lays groundwork for later work on proportion, observation and the formal element of shape. Teachers can record evidence of progress by keeping the completed sheet in a sketchbook alongside a freehand portrait drawn afterwards, showing how the child has applied the proportion rule independently.
Frequently asked questions
How do you teach a child to draw a face?
Start with proportions rather than detail. The most useful rule is that the eyes sit roughly halfway down the head, the nose about halfway between the eyes and the chin, and the mouth a little below the nose. This worksheet introduces that rule with a guided portrait and short questions, giving children a framework they can reuse every time they draw.
Where do the eyes go when drawing a face?
The eyes belong about halfway down the head, not near the top as children often assume. Leaving roughly the top half of the head for the forehead and hair is what makes a drawn face look balanced and realistic.
What age is this drawing worksheet for?
It is designed for KS2 children aged 7 to 9 (Years 3 and 4), though many younger children enjoy the colouring and older children can use it as a quick proportion refresher before a portrait task.
Is the worksheet free to print?
Yes. The worksheet is completely free, needs no sign-up, and is designed to print onto a single A4 page in black and white, ready for children to colour.
How does this link to the National Curriculum?
It supports the KS2 art and design aim of improving mastery of drawing techniques and recording observations in sketch books. Learning a structured way to lay out a portrait is an age-appropriate way to build drawing skill.
Curriculum links
- Art & Design KS2: to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials (for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay).
- Art & Design KS2: to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas.
- Art & Design (purpose of study): to develop the creativity and skill of pupils so they can experiment, invent and create their own works of art.
Made by The Owee education team. Updated 02/06/2026. Free to print and share.
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