How to Draw a Dinosaur (Easy Step-by-Step for Kids)
To draw a dinosaur, start with an oval for the body. Add a long neck with a round head, then a pointed tail. Finish with four thick legs, round back plates and a happy face.
- Steps
- 6 easy steps
- You need
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Black marker
- Green, light green, orange and cream 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 a dinosaur step by step
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Step 1 of 6: Draw a wide oval for the body.
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Step 2 of 6: Add a long neck on the right and a round head with a snout. Erase the body line inside the neck.
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Step 3 of 6: Draw a long pointed tail on the left. Erase the body line where the tail joins.
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Step 4 of 6: Add four thick legs with two toenails each. Erase the old body bottom and draw a higher belly.
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Step 5 of 6: Draw five round plates along the back, an eye with a shine dot and a smile.
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Step 6 of 6: Color the body green, the underside light green, the plates orange and the toenails cream.
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 plates small near the tail and bigger in the middle of the back.
Tip: Draw the legs straight down like posts. That helps the big body stand up.
Make it yours
Spiky dinosaur
Draw pointed triangles along the back instead of round plates.
Dinosaur with a baby
Draw a smaller dinosaur next to it with a shorter neck and a cracked egg nearby.
Dinosaur in the jungle
Add a tall palm tree beside the head and some ferns under the feet.
Common mistakes and easy fixes
The neck is too short
Make the neck taller than the body, so the head sits high above the back.
The tail floats
Start the tail at the left end of the body, then let it narrow to a point.
The plates are on the belly
Put the plates on top of the back, between the neck and the tail.
Fun facts about the dinosaur
Dinosaur fossils have been found on all seven continents. (Source: American Museum of Natural History)
There are roughly 700 known species of extinct dinosaurs. (Source: American Museum of Natural History)
Modern birds are a kind of dinosaur, because they share a common ancestor with non-avian dinosaurs. (Source: American Museum of Natural History)
Questions grown-ups ask
How to draw a dinosaur easy?
Draw an oval body, a long neck with a round head and a pointed tail. Add legs, back plates and a face. The 6 steps above follow that order.
How to draw a dinosaur for kids?
Use simple shapes: an oval for the body, a long tube for the neck and a circle for the head. Round plates on the back finish it.
How to draw a dinosaur step by step?
Start with the body, then the neck and head, the tail, the legs, and the plates and face. Color it last.
If your plates came out bumpy or uneven, that's fine. Your dinosaur has its own style. More easy drawings for kids are on the home page.