How to use these dinosaur coloring pages
Coloring is a calm, low-prep activity for quiet time, a waiting room or the end of a busy day. You'll need crayons, markers or colored pencils, and a pencil for the T. rex word.
- Let your child choose a dinosaur. Children who pick their own page stay with it longer.
- Say the name together. Three of the pages ask your child to say the dinosaur's name out loud. Clap the parts: tri-ce-ra-tops.
- Big shapes first. Color the body, then the spikes, plates, horns or wings. This stops small details from becoming frustrating.
- Use the color guide on the scene page. It suggests a green T. rex and palms, an orange triceratops, a purple frill, a tan egg, a brown volcano and ground, and gray smoke. Copy it, or make the dinosaurs any color at all.
- Trace "rex" on the T. rex page, starting each letter at the top.
Each single dinosaur takes about 10 to 20 minutes. The volcano scene can be finished over two sittings. There's no right way to color a dinosaur, since nobody knows their real colors for sure, so a pink stegosaurus is perfectly fine.
Tips by age
Age 3: Going over the lines is normal and still builds hand strength. Hold the page steady and talk about what the dinosaur is doing.
Age 4: Ask your child to color inside one big shape, like the stegosaurus body, then add a pattern on its plates.
Age 5 and 6: Follow the color guide, add a background to the single dinosaurs (grass, a sun, a nest) and write the dinosaur's name underneath.
Games to play with the pages
- Dino stand-ups: cut out the colored dinosaurs, tape them to card and stand them in a sand tray or block "jungle."
- Size line: line the finished pages up from the dinosaur your child thinks is biggest to smallest, and talk about why.
- Dinosaur story: ask your child to tell you what the T. rex and triceratops are doing near the volcano, and write one sentence on the back.
- Name match: write the four names on sticky notes and see if your child can match each to the right picture.
For dinosaur science, sensory digs, counting games and a 5-day plan, see our guide to dinosaur activities for preschoolers.
When your child is ready for more
Once your child can color a big shape and is curious about names, they're ready for busier scenes and more words to trace. The full book mixes both.
The Dino Friends Coloring Book has 19 pages for ages 3 to 6: 10 coloring pages and 6 big single dinosaurs with a word to trace. T. rex, triceratops, stegosaurus and a baby dino hatching from its egg are drawn in big, simple line art for little paleontologists, and you can print favorites again and again.
Questions parents ask
They suit children aged 3 to 6. The single dinosaurs have thick, simple outlines that 3 year olds can manage, while the volcano scene has more detail and a color guide that older preschoolers and kindergartners like to follow. The T. rex page also has a short word to trace.
Yes. The 5 pages are a free sample from our Dino Friends Coloring Book. Pick color or black and white in US Letter or A4 and the PDF downloads instantly. You don't need to sign up or give an email, and you can print extra copies for siblings or a dinosaur birthday party.
Both versions have the same dinosaurs to color. The color version adds colored page borders and shows the small guide picture on the scene page in full color, so your child can copy it. The black and white version saves ink and leaves every color choice to your child.
Triceratops is try-SAIR-uh-tops, stegosaurus is STEG-uh-SORE-us and pterodactyl is TAIR-uh-DAK-til, with a silent p. Clap the parts as you say them together, one clap per part. Young children love long dinosaur names, and clapping the syllables like this is good early reading practice that helps them hear the separate parts of longer words.
The full Dino Friends Coloring Book has 19 pages: 10 coloring pages and 6 big single dinosaurs to color with a word to trace. Alongside the dinosaurs here, you'll find more full-page scenes and a baby dino hatching from its egg, all with thick lines for little hands.
