Hiragana "Ho" Coloring Pages

"Ho" is for "Hoshi"

This coloring page is for practicing the hiragana "Ho".
On the left, there is 1 big "star" with 5 points, and 2 small stars.
They are neat star shapes with no faces.
In the top right, you will find a big outlined "Ho" and the word "star", and at the bottom right, there are tracing boxes.

2 Coloring pages

The 1st one is a new coloring page that has a picture on the left, a big "ほ", and tracing practice all together.
The 2nd one is a coloring page with a big "ほ" in the middle, surrounded by lots of pictures of words that start with "ほ".
The names are written under the pictures, like star (hoshi), book (hon), bone (hone), and cheeks (hoppe).
There is a star on the 2nd one too, and "hoshi" is written inside it. Compare it with the star on the 1st page.

"Ho" came from "保"

Hiragana are letters created a long time ago by simplifying Kanji.
The Kanji that became Hiragana "Ho" is "保", which can be read as "tamotsu".
It is said that the left side became the standing line, and the right side turned into the two across lines and the loop, forming the shape of Hiragana "Ho" today.

Tips for writing

Hiragana "Ho" is a letter drawn with 4 strokes.
The 1st stroke is the vertical line on the left. Make a small hook pointing up to the right at the end.
The 2nd and 3rd strokes are the two horizontal lines on the right.
The 4th stroke goes straight down, makes a loop at the bottom, and sweeps out to the right.
It looks a lot like "ha". "Ho" has 2 horizontal lines, and "ha" has 1, so look closely!

Words that start with "Hiragana "Ho""

Words that start with "ほ" include ほたる (firefly), ほうき (broom), ほたて (scallop), and ほっとけーき (pancake).
If you add two dots (dakuten) to "ほ", it becomes "ぼ", and if you add a circle (handakuten), it becomes "ぽ".
That gives you the "ぼ" in "ぼうし (hat)" and the "ぽ" in "ぽすと (postbox)".
They are also used in words that describe warm feelings, like "ほかほか" and "ぽかぽか".

The word "Hoshi"

"Hoshi" means the stars that shine in the night sky.
When you look up at the sky on a clear night, you can see so many stars twinkling bright.
We draw stars with five points to show how bright and sparkly they shine.
Real stars are actually round, not pointy at all!
Look up at the sky tonight and see how many stars you can find and count.

Color the Big "Hiragana "Ho"" with 4 Colors

Color the big outlined "Hiragana "Ho"" with any colors you like.
It has 4 strokes, so if you color each stroke with 4 different colors, you can easily learn the stroke order.
If you use yellow or gold to match the star, you will get a shiny, sparkling "Hiragana "Ho""!

Make Yellow the Main Color for the Stars

Try coloring the big star with yellow or bright marigold yellow.
If you make the center light yellow and the tips a bit darker yellow or orange, it will look like it is glowing!
It is also fun to use different colors for the small stars, like light blue or pink.
If you color around them with dark blue to make a night sky, the stars will look super bright!

For the 2nd Page, Think About Real Colors

Color the cover of the book (hon) with your favorite color, and leave the pages white.
Color the bone (hone) white or cream.
For the boy with cute cheeks (hoppe), color his cheeks light pink to make him look happy and smiling!

Tracing Practice

In the boxes on the bottom right, there are 8 light gray "Hiragana "Ho""s lined up.
Hold your pencil correctly and trace them slowly. Try not to go outside the gray lines!
The dotted lines going up, down, and across inside the boxes show you the center. Use them as a guide to see where to start and where to stop.
After you write 1, compare it with the big practice letter.
You do not have to write all 8 at once. Take your time and write at your own pace, like doing 2 each day!

The sun is a star, too

Most of the stars in the night sky shine on their own, just like the sun.
In fact, the sun is one of the stars, too!
The other stars are much farther away than the sun, so they look like tiny dots of light.

Why stars twinkle

Stars look like they twinkle and flicker because the air around the Earth is moving.
The starlight travels through this moving air, which makes it look like it is wobbling.
If you look at stars from space where there is no air, they do not twinkle at all!

Shooting stars are not real stars

A shooting star zooming across the night sky is actually not a star.
It is a tiny bit of dust or rock floating in space that burns up and shines bright when it falls into Earth's air.
There is a famous story that if you make a wish three times before a shooting star disappears, your wish will come true!

Stars of Tanabata

The Orihime from the Tanabata story is a star named Vega in the constellation Lyra.
Hikoboshi is a star named Altair in the constellation Aquila.
You can see them shining brightly across the Milky Way in the summer night sky!