About these dinosaur coloring pages
Dinosaur coloring pages are some of the most printed pages in any home or classroom, and it is easy to see why. Children love the size, the strange shapes and the big names, and a coloring page turns that curiosity into something they can hold, finish and pin on the wall. Our free dinosaur pages go from very simple outlines of a smiling baby dinosaur for toddlers to detailed prehistoric scenes with volcanoes, ferns and whole dinosaur families for older kids and adults.
Every page prints on US Letter or A4 paper, and you can color any of them online with a tap-to-fill brush. Pick a T-rex for the child who wants something fierce, a long-neck sauropod for the gentle giant fan, or a triceratops with its three horns. While they color, there is a lot to talk about: what each dinosaur ate, how big it really was and how we know it all from fossils.
Why kids love coloring dinosaurs
Dinosaurs are real, which makes them more exciting than dragons, and they are gone, which makes them safe. Coloring one lets a child decide what it looked like, because nobody knows the true colors of most dinosaurs. A purple stegosaurus is just as right as a green one.
Dinosaur pages also fit many lessons. Toddlers practice big circles and long lines, preschoolers learn the names of colors and shapes, and school-age children connect the page to science: plant eaters and meat eaters, herds and nests, the age of the dinosaurs and the meteorite that ended it.
Plant eaters, meat eaters and flying reptiles
A simple way to organize dinosaur pages is by what the animals ate. Long-neck sauropods such as Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus, Triceratops with its frill and Stegosaurus with its back plates were plant eaters. Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor and Spinosaurus ate meat, which is why their pages show sharp teeth and strong legs.
Pterosaurs, like Pteranodon, and swimming reptiles, like Plesiosaurus, lived at the same time but were not dinosaurs. They make great pages for kids who like to sort things into groups.
- Plant eaters: Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus
- Meat eaters: Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, Spinosaurus, Allosaurus
- Not dinosaurs, but close neighbours: Pteranodon (flying) and Plesiosaurus (swimming)
Dinosaur facts to share while you color
- Dinosaurs lived for about 165 million years, from around 230 to 66 million years ago.
- Tyrannosaurus rex was about 12 meters (40 feet) long, roughly the length of a school bus.
- Birds are living dinosaurs: they descend from small feathered meat-eating dinosaurs.
- Many dinosaurs had feathers, including relatives of Velociraptor, which was only about the size of a turkey.
- Triceratops had three horns and a large bony frill around its neck.
- Stegosaurus had a brain about the size of a walnut, small for an animal as big as a bus.
- Some long-neck sauropods, such as Argentinosaurus, were among the largest land animals that ever lived.
- Scientists learned that some dinosaurs had reddish-brown or striped colors by studying tiny structures in fossil feathers.
Which dinosaur page for which age
- Toddlers (2–3)
- Pick easy pages with one big dinosaur and very thick lines. Chunky crayons and a few colors are all they need.
- Preschool (3–5)
- Easy and medium pages with a dinosaur and an egg, a tree or a sun. Name the colors and count the spikes together.
- Kids (5–10)
- Medium pages with scenes: a herd by a lake, a volcano, a dig site. Great for colored pencils and markers.
- Teens and adults
- Detailed pages with textured skin, ferns and backgrounds. Try shading, patterns on the scales or a limited palette.
Coloring tips and color ideas
- Nobody knows the real colors of most dinosaurs, so any color is right. Encourage stripes, spots and bold patterns.
- For a realistic look, use greens and browns like modern reptiles and add a lighter belly.
- Color the background last: a blue sky, an orange volcano glow or green jungle makes the dinosaur stand out.
- Use two shades of the same color on the body, the darker one along the back and the lighter one underneath.
- Markers are great for big bodies; colored pencils are better for the small spikes, teeth and plates.
- Leave the eyes white with a small black dot so the dinosaur looks friendly.
Ideas for home, school and parties
- Dinosaur birthday party: print one page per guest and set up a coloring table, then hang the finished pages as a gallery.
- Classroom: color the dinosaur, then write its name, what it ate and how big it was under the picture.
- Museum day: print a few pages before a visit to a natural history museum and look for the same dinosaurs there.
- Make a mini book: staple five colored pages together with a cover that says "My Dinosaur Book".
- Turn your own child into a dinosaur explorer: upload a photo and make a coloring page of them next to their favorite dinosaur.
How to print dinosaur coloring pages
- Open the page you like and press Print it. A PDF opens, sized for US Letter; the A4 PDF is next to it.
- In the print window choose "Fit to page" or 100% scale, and plain white paper. Thicker paper (100 to 120 gsm) is better for markers and paint.
- Print a few copies: kids like to try different colors on the same picture.
- Prefer screens? Press Color it online and color with a tap on a phone, tablet or computer.