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Activity pack maker: printable coloring pages, worksheets and puzzles

Chapbook is an activity pack maker: from one paragraph it makes 8 to 40 printable pages of coloring pictures, worksheets and puzzles (word search, maze, matching, crossword), for ages 3–5, 6–8 or 9–12, or adults. It exports one black-on-white PDF on US Letter or A4, and on a paid plan gives it away from a page that signs up the grown-ups who ask for it.

A brief to start from

A free printable activity pack for a public library's summer reading program, about the creatures and plants of a local pond. Eight coloring pages, two word searches, two mazes, two matching pages and two worksheets ("draw what you saw", "my reading log"), for ages 6 to 8, given away from a book page where a parent, guardian or teacher signs up. Every character is our own.

Start from this brief
8–40 pages
A pack is sized in pages, not words: 16 by default, 12 of them to color and 4 worksheets. Ask for any mix of coloring pages, worksheets and puzzles.
About 110 credits
The default pack: 10 for the outline, 5 per picture to color, at least 4 per page of words, and 20 for the cover. Puzzles cost nothing.
One PDF to print
Black on white, on US Letter or A4, with a color cover. A pack has no EPUB or Word document. Files without the watermark need a paid plan.

What is in a pack

One activity per page, so a child can take a single sheet and go. The outline plans every page, and each kind is made its own way:

  • Coloring pages are drawn as black outlines on white, with the line above each picture written in the outline. See the coloring page generator for how they are made and checked.
  • Worksheets have answer lines, checklists and boxes to fill in, written for your topic.
  • Puzzles are made by code, never by the model. The outline picks the words or clues, and a solver checks each word search, maze, matching page and crossword before it is saved. The answers print at the back of the pack.
  • A note for the grown-up opens the pack: what it is for and how to use it.
  • A color cover closes the gap between a stack of printouts and something with your name on it. With a link, a Next step page ends the pack on a button and a QR code.

To try the puzzles without an account, the free word search and maze maker runs the same code in your browser, one sheet at a time.

Who it is for

A pack is for a business or teacher whose readers have children, or who hand out sheets anyway:

  • Clinics and dental offices with a waiting room, and a reason to be remembered by the parents in it.
  • Libraries and tutors with a topic, a term and a family audience.
  • Brands for children that want something useful to give away. It is the grown-up who signs up.
  • Coaches and teachers of adults, who use worksheets and reflection pages: choose the adult band.

This page starts from a brief because Chapbook has no sample pack to show yet. Open it, change the theme and the mix, and the planner will show you every page before anything is drawn.

Printing it

The pack prints in black on white on US Letter or A4, whatever the look: the look sets the type and the cover, not the color of the pages. Turn on Print one side to leave the back of every sheet blank, so markers don’t bleed through a double-sided print. Each page has its title centered at the top.

The page, and who signs up

On a paid plan the pack gets a public book page. A children’s pack shows its sign-up to a parent, guardian or teacher, never the child: the form says so, asks for the grown-up’s own email and name, and needs a box ticked confirming they are 18 or over. That sentence is stored with the consent line. Sign-ups land in your Readers list and export as CSV for your email tool. Chapbook never emails a reader.

Write your own posts and flyers the same way. A pack is a thing parents ask for; don’t aim the sign-up at children.

How it works

  1. Write the brief. The theme, the age, and roughly how many pages of each kind.
  2. Approve the outline. Planning uses 10 credits. Read every picture’s line and every puzzle’s words before they are made.
  3. See the price. Each picture to color uses 5 credits, each page of words at least 4, each puzzle nothing. A new account’s 60 credits go toward this once, with no card.
  4. Draft and export. Redraw a picture you don’t like (a paid-plan action, for the price of one picture), or lay a puzzle out again for free.

What it does not do

A pack is PDF only, with no EPUB, Word document or paperback, and Chapbook makes no files for a KDP coloring book. It is not a library of ready-made printables to download: everything is made for your brief. It will not draw characters, mascots or brands someone else owns, real people, or an artist’s style. It writes in English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian and Dutch.

Questions people ask

How many pages can an activity pack have?

8 to 40, 16 by default. Ask for any mix of coloring pages, worksheets, word searches, mazes, matching pages and crosswords, plus a note at the front for the grown-up who prints it.

What ages can a pack be for?

Chapbook's bands are ages 3–5, 6–8 or 9–12, or adults. The band sets how detailed the pictures are and how hard the puzzles are. A pack whose age was never set is treated as a child's, so the stricter rules apply.

Who signs up for a children's pack?

A parent, guardian or teacher, never the child. On a children's pack the book page's form says so, asks for the grown-up's own email and name, and has a box they must tick to confirm they are 18 or over and signing up for themselves.

Do puzzles cost credits?

No. A word search, maze, matching page or crossword is laid out by code from the words and clues in the outline, and checked by a solver before it is saved. Making one again in a new layout is free on every plan, and the answers print at the back.

Can a pack use a cartoon character or a brand mascot?

No. Every character must be your own. A page that names a character, mascot or brand someone else owns, a real person or an artist's style is refused before it is drawn, and nothing is charged.

Can I sell an activity pack on Amazon?

Chapbook does not make one for that. A pack is a printable PDF to give away from a book page, with no paperback interior, wrap cover or EPUB. If you want a coloring book for KDP, this is the wrong tool.

Read a chapter of your own book before you pay for it.

The outline, one sample chapter up to 2,500 words and a watermarked cover are free: 60 Book Credits on sign-up, no card.