Dinosaur Coloring Pages

Meet the dinosaurs

The T rex stands by a small volcano with a toothy grin, so it looks fun and not scary. The stegosaurus has big plates on its back and spikes on its tail. The triceratops shows off a round frill and three horns, and the brachiosaurus stretches its neck toward the sky beside a tall tree.

We also have a pterodactyl soaring past the clouds. Strictly speaking, it was a flying reptile and not a dinosaur, which is a fun thing to teach a young dino expert. The velociraptor and the dinosaur egg round out the set.

Dinosaur coloring pages by age

The baby dinosaur is the best choice for toddlers. It has a big round head, a big egg and thick lines. Two and three year olds can color it with a chunky crayon.

Kids from four to eight will enjoy all the others. The bodies are large and simple, and the plates, horns and spots give them smaller parts to work on. Because the faces are friendly, these pages suit kids who love dinosaurs but do not enjoy scary teeth.

Older kids can make any of these look more real by adding scales, shadows and a detailed background of ferns and rocks.

What color were dinosaurs?

This is one of the best parts of coloring dinosaurs. For most kinds, nobody knows. Skin color rarely lasts in fossils, so scientists can only guess. That means your child cannot get it wrong. A purple T rex or a striped stegosaurus is just as good as a green one.

If kids want a more natural look, these ideas work well.

• Use greens and browns, like animals that hide among plants.
• Try a lighter belly and a darker back, as many animals have today.
• Add spots or stripes in a darker shade to break up the body.
• Color bright patches on a frill or on plates, since they may have been used for showing off.

Plain printer paper works well for crayons and pencils. For markers, put a spare sheet underneath.

Ideas for home and class

Dinosaur pages fit neatly into lessons on fossils, on history and on plant eaters and meat eaters. Kids can sort the drawings into those two groups. T rex was a meat eater, while the triceratops, the stegosaurus and the brachiosaurus ate plants.

Size is a good math topic as well. Use tape on the floor to mark how long a T rex was, about 40 feet. Then ask how many kids lying head to toe it would take to match it.

For a birthday party, print a stack of pages and set up a dino dig. Bury plastic bones in a tub of sand, and let kids color while they wait for a turn. Everything here is free for home, class and library use. Our free use license has the details.

Fun facts about dinosaurs

Dinosaurs lived on Earth for more than 150 million years. Most died out about 66 million years ago, likely after a huge asteroid hit the planet. But not all of them vanished. Scientists now agree that birds are living dinosaurs. You can read more on Wikipedia.

Stegosaurus and T rex never met, either. They lived more than 80 million years apart. That is a longer gap than the one between T rex and us.

The real velociraptor was about the size of a turkey, and it had feathers. Ask your child whether the velociraptor page should get feathers too. For the egg, try a guessing game. Color the shell, then draw what you think is inside on the back, and open it up together.

Dinosaur coloring pages and reading

Kids who love dinosaurs often love the long names. Coloring is a nice time to practice them. Say triceratops slowly while your child colors each horn, and break it into parts: try, sara, tops. Soon they will be correcting you. Write the name along the bottom of the page and let them copy it.

Library books go well with these pages too. Pick one book about fossils and read a few pages, then color the matching dinosaur. Ask your child to tell you one new fact before they start.

Museum trips make it even better. If you live near a natural history museum, color a page before you go and bring it along. Kids can hold it up next to the real skeleton and compare the two. How big is that head? How long is that tail?

Keep exploring

Animal lovers can browse more drawings in our animal coloring pages, and little ones will enjoy our preschool coloring pages.

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