How to Draw an Alligator (Easy Step-by-Step for Kids)
To draw an alligator, start with a long body shape. Add a flat snout, a curved tail and four short legs. Finish with a round eye, a toothy smile and eight bumps on the back.
- Steps
- 8 easy steps
- You need
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Black marker
- Green, dark green and light green crayons
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Teaching this to a class?
Show one step at a time on the board and wait for the class before the next. The directed drawing for kids page explains how to run it.
How to draw an alligator step by step
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Step 1 of 8: Draw one long flat body shape with round ends, a little taller at the right end.
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Step 2 of 8: Add a round head bump and a long flat snout at the right end. Erase the old round end there.
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Step 3 of 8: Draw a long tail at the left end that curves up to a point. Erase the old round end there.
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Step 4 of 8: Add four short legs with two toe lines on each foot. Erase the belly line above the two near legs.
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Step 5 of 8: Make the head bump taller and erase its old top. Add an eye with a black pupil and a shine dot.
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Step 6 of 8: Draw a long smile from under the eye to the snout tip, with four small triangle teeth under it.
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Step 7 of 8: Add eight round bumps in a row along the back and tail, from the head to the tail tip.
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Step 8 of 8: Color the body green, bumps dark green, belly stripe and lower jaw light green, teeth and eye white.
Tips for little artists
Tip: Press lightly with the pencil first. Trace the lines you like with the marker, then erase the rest.
Tip: Make the snout long and flat so it sticks out far past the eye bump.
Tip: Draw the back bumps small near the tail tip and bigger along the middle of the back.
Make it yours
Alligator in the swamp
Draw wavy water lines under your alligator and a few tall reeds around it.
Swimming alligator
Draw a wavy water line across the body so only the eye bump, snout and back bumps show.
Baby alligator
Draw a smaller alligator next to yours and give it the same back bumps.
Common mistakes and easy fixes
It looks like a lizard
Make the snout long and flat and add the row of round back bumps.
The legs look too long
Keep the legs short so the belly stays close to the ground.
The back bumps look uneven
Draw the bumps one at a time along the back line, each one touching the next.
Fun facts about the alligator
An American alligator has upward facing nostrils at the end of its snout, so it can breathe while the rest of its body is underwater. (Source: Smithsonian's National Zoo)
An American alligator has between 74 and 80 teeth in its mouth at a time. (Source: Smithsonian's National Zoo)
A female American alligator carries 8 to 10 hatchlings at a time in her mouth down to the water. (Source: National Park Service, Everglades National Park)
Questions grown-ups ask
How to draw an alligator easy?
Start with a long body shape and add a flat snout, a tail and four short legs. Then add the eye, the smile with teeth and the back bumps.
How to draw an alligator for kids?
Follow the 8 steps above, one new part in each step. Print the step sheet and draw your alligator in the Your turn box.
How to draw an alligator full body?
Draw the long body first, then the head and snout on one end and the tail on the other. Add four short legs under the body so the whole alligator shows.
If your alligator has more bumps or a longer tail, that's fine. Your alligator has its own smile. More easy drawings for kids are on the home page.