Winnie the Pooh Coloring Pages
Winnie-the-Pooh started out as a real bear. In 1914 a Canadian army vet named Harry Colebourn bought a black bear cub at a train station in Ontario and named her Winnipeg, after his hometown. She ended up at the London Zoo, where a small boy named Christopher Robin loved to visit her. His dad, A. A. Milne, turned that friendship into stories about a bear who loves honey and has very little brain, but a very big heart.
Most of Pooh's friends began as Christopher Robin's toys too. Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga and Roo all lived in his nursery. Owl and Rabbit are the only two who weren't, because Milne made them up for the stories.
Jump to: Pooh | Piglet | Eeyore | Tigger | Kanga and Roo | Rabbit | Owl | Christopher Robin
Winnie the Pooh
Pooh got his name from two animals. Winnie was the black bear at London Zoo and Pooh was a swan the family met on holiday. His forest home, the Hundred Acre Wood, is based on a real place called Ashdown Forest in southern England. The artist E. H. Shepard drew the first pictures, and he used his own son's teddy bear as the model instead of Christopher Robin's.
Piglet
Piglet calls himself a Very Small Animal. The sign over his door says TRESPASSERS W, and he explains that it's short for Trespassers William, his grandfather's name. He gets nervous easily but he's braver than he thinks. When a storm knocked over Owl's house, Piglet was small enough to wriggle out through the letterbox and go for help.
Eeyore
Eeyore is a gloomy grey donkey who loses his tail in one story. Pooh finds it hanging by Owl's door as a bell-pull and Christopher Robin nails it back on. For his birthday Pooh gives him an empty honey pot and Piglet gives him a burst balloon. Eeyore is thrilled, because the balloon fits inside the pot.
Tigger
Tigger bounces into the forest without knowing what Tiggers eat, so everyone helps him find out. Honey is a no. So are haycorns and thistles. In the end he discovers that Tiggers like Kanga's Extract of Malt best. He's also very good at climbing up trees and not so good at getting down again, because his tail gets in the way.
Kanga and Roo
Kanga and Roo are the newcomers to the forest, and the other animals aren't sure what to make of them. Kanga is a kangaroo who keeps her baby Roo in her pouch. In one story Rabbit's plan to hide Roo goes wrong when Piglet ends up in Kanga's pouch instead. Kanga knows exactly what is going on and decides to give him a bath anyway.
Rabbit
Rabbit is the busy one with a garden, a long list of plans and more friends and relations than anyone can count. Pooh once stayed for a snack and ate so much that he got stuck in Rabbit's front door on the way out. He was stuck for a whole week, and Rabbit used his back legs as a towel rack.
Owl
Owl is the friend everyone asks for advice, though his spelling is a bit wobbly. He writes his own name as WOL, and the notes on his door tell visitors to ring the bell if they want an answer and knock if they don't.
Christopher Robin
Christopher Robin is the only human in the stories. The real Christopher Robin Milne got a stuffed bear for his first birthday in 1921 and kept adding friends to the collection. Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga and Tigger now live at the New York Public Library, where visitors can see them. In the books he's the one the animals run to whenever there's a problem.
