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This dinosaur island coloring page shows a whole little world in one picture. A smoking volcano rises at the back, a green jungle wraps around the middle and a river winds down to the sea. A long necked sauropod, a stegosaurus and a triceratops share the land, and a plesiosaur pokes its neck out of the waves. It suits kids from about 5 to 11.
Look for the small details. Two eggs sit by a cycad. Palm trees lean out from the shore. Two flying reptiles cross the sky, two small fish swim near the bottom edge and two rocky islets sit far off on the horizon.
Color the land in rings
The island is built like a target, and that makes it simple. Work from the outside in, and each ring gets its own color.
- Blue green sea all around.
- Pale tan for the sandy beach, with a few dots for pebbles.
- Bright green for the land inside.
- Dark green for the bushes along the back.
The river should be the same color as the sea, because it flows right into it. A little white along its edges will suggest moving water. Then give the volcano a rich brown, a bright orange lava flow and a gray puff of smoke on top.
Dinosaur island coloring page color ideas
Because the dinosaurs are small next to the scenery, strong colors work best. Pale colors will get lost. Try an orange stegosaurus, a purple triceratops and a blue long neck. The truth is, nobody can say what shade they really were, so a page like this is a chance to invent a whole set of island animals.
If you want a calmer look, stay with greens and browns and let the lava be the only bright thing. Both ways work. A quick look at the finished page will tell you which one your child prefers for next time.
The sky can be early morning: soft yellow near the sea, light blue above. Leave the clouds white. For the sea, lay down a pale blue and add darker bands around the wave lines.
Keep the small shapes clean
The triceratops and the stegosaurus have fine detail. Use a sharp colored pencil for those two, and a crayon for the big areas of land and water. Trying to color the small dinosaurs with a thick crayon is the most common way this page goes wrong.
Plan on thirty to forty minutes. Younger kids can do the sea, the beach and the volcano first. Those three big shapes alone make the page look done.
A real dinosaur island
Our island is made up, but the idea has some truth in it. Late in the Cretaceous period, a shallow sea called the Western Interior Seaway split North America in two. The western part formed an island continent called Laramidia, which existed from about 99.6 to 66 million years ago.
It was home to many dinosaurs, including ankylosaurs, horned dinosaurs, tyrannosaurs and duck bills. So a triceratops really did live on a kind of island. You can see a map on the Wikipedia article on Laramidia.
Not everything here lived together, though. Stegosaurs and long necks like this one come from a much earlier time. That makes a good talking point for older kids. The sea reptile and the flyers were not dinosaurs at all.
Map it out
Turn the finished page into a treasure map. Add a dotted line, a big X and a compass in the corner. Give the river, the volcano and the beach names, such as Roar River or Mount Smoke. Kids can then write directions from the beach to the X.
Teachers can use it for map skills. Ask students to add a key with symbols for trees, rocks and nests, then swap maps with a partner and find a spot from the directions.
For a closer look at one of these animals, try the stegosaurus coloring page. Those who like the shore can follow up with the beach coloring page.
Questions
Is this a real place?
No, the island is made up. No single spot held all of these animals at once. Real dinosaurs did live on an island continent, though, and you can read about it on this page.
Is the animal in the sea a dinosaur?
No. It is a plesiosaur, a long necked sea reptile. The flying reptiles in the sky are not dinosaurs either.
Can kids use it for map work?
Yes. Add a compass, a key and place names, then treat the page as a map of a new land.
