Free dinosaurs printable
3 Free Dinosaur Color-by-Number Pages for a Little Prehistoric Adventure
Print three original dinosaur color-by-number pages, from a hatching dino to a river crossing. Each free PNG uses the same simple four-color key.
You have the crayons ready. Your child wants a dinosaur picture. Then comes the question that can stall the whole activity: “What color should I make it?” A color-by-number page gives them an easy first move without deciding the entire picture for them. Find a number, check the key, color one space, and keep going.
These three original BoysColor pages make a tiny adventure: a baby dinosaur hatches, a long-necked explorer looks for leaves, and a three-horned friend crosses a river. They all use the same four-color key, so a child who learns it on the first page can use it on the next. Print one page for a short break or set out all three for a longer afternoon.
The colorful cover above illustrates the three scenes. The actual black-and-white pages and individual free PNG downloads are below. The optional Creative Fabrica set later in this guide contains different dinosaur pictures.
Before you start: one key for all three pages
Each printable has its own key across the top: 1 = green, 2 = orange, 3 = blue, and 4 = yellow. Put those four crayons beside the page. Ask your child to find one number in the picture before picking up a crayon. The digit belongs to the enclosed area around it.
These are coloring pages, not tests. Tiny details such as eyes, horns, toes, and a few small background shapes have no number. Children can leave them white or choose their own colors. If you prefer a different palette, write your replacement colors beside the printed key and use that version consistently.
The PNGs are black and white, so they do not need colored printer ink. Choose a print setting that keeps the whole border and key visible, and check the preview before printing several copies.
- Set out four crayons and one printed page.
- Find a number and match it to the key.
- Color one enclosed area, then look for the same number elsewhere.
1. Hatching Dino: the easiest first page
The first dinosaur has just popped out of its egg. Its body, belly, egg shell, leaves, ground, and sun give a beginner a few large areas to color. There is plenty of open white space around the picture, so the page does not feel crowded.
Start by asking, “Can you find a 1?” Let your child point to the dinosaur and the leaves before coloring either one. Once they see that the same number can appear in more than one place, they can use the rest of the key independently.
The bottom of the egg is marked 2. After coloring it orange, invite your child to invent what happened just before this picture. Did the egg wobble? Did someone hear a little crack? One sentence is enough to turn the page into the opening of a story.
If your child would rather color the egg purple, that is fine. They can circle the orange entry in the key and tell you they made a new version. The matching game still works when the rule is changed deliberately.
- Find every 1 on the dinosaur and leaves.
- Color the egg area marked 2, then the other numbered parts.
- Tell one thing that happened before the dinosaur hatched.
Download this free printable (PNG)
Ask your child: What sound would your baby dinosaur make when it first sees the sun?
2. Leafy Explorer: find a number in new places
A gentle long-necked dinosaur stretches toward a leafy branch. The repeated 1s appear on its body and the leaves; the 2s mark spots and part of its underside. Clouds, open sky, and a pond make the scene feel bigger than the egg page, but the shapes remain broad enough for crayons.
Try a “find them first” round before anyone colors. Ask your child to touch every 1 they can spot, then every 2. There is no need to count perfectly. The useful habit is scanning the whole picture rather than coloring only the first number they notice.
If the page feels busy, cover the bottom half with a spare sheet of paper and uncover it when the top is done. A child who wants a little more freedom can color the small unnumbered details any way they like.
After coloring, ask where the dinosaur might go next. Toward the pond? Past the hill? Draw a trail on the back of the page or tell a one-sentence ending aloud.
- Point to the body and leaves that share number 1.
- Search for the smaller spots marked 2.
- Finish the pond and other broad areas, then invent the next stop.
Download this free printable (PNG)
Ask your child: Where would your explorer go after the last leaf?
3. River Crossing: a small challenge with a clear finish
A three-horned dinosaur is stepping across a river on four large stones. This final page has more separate numbered spaces than the hatching scene. The dinosaur, bushes, stones, water, and sun all use the same familiar key.
Before coloring, trace a path across the stones with a finger. Then color the 2s on the stones and ask whether the dinosaur will step on the nearest one or skip ahead. The river’s 3s can come next. By the time your child reaches the body and bushes, much of the scene has taken shape.
The crossing does not need to end on the printed page. On the back, your child can draw the far bank: perhaps a nest, forest, or another friendly dinosaur. If drawing feels like too much, simply ask what the dinosaur sees when it gets across.
- Trace a safe route across the four stones.
- Color the stones marked 2 and the water marked 3.
- Finish the dinosaur and imagine the far bank.
Download this free printable (PNG)
Ask your child: What is waiting for this dinosaur on the other side?
Which page should you print first?
Choose Hatching Dino if your child is new to matching numbers and colors. The picture is simple and the reward comes quickly. Choose Leafy Explorer if they enjoy searching for repeated details in a larger scene. Choose River Crossing when they want a little more to do and a story to tell afterward.
You do not have to print all three at once. One well-chosen page can be more inviting than a stack of unfinished sheets. If a child gets stuck, point to the key and ask which color the number suggests. Try not to hunt down every matching number for them.
If they lose interest halfway through, leave the page available for later. A partly colored dinosaur is not a failed activity. The next time they want a dinosaur, they can continue this picture or choose the next chapter of the little adventure.
🦕 More dinosaur coloring collections
12 hand-picked coloring page sets on the same theme.
