Imagine a world where dinosaurs still roamed the Earth! Everyday life would look quite different if T-Rex’s were walking through your backyard. Use that thought to help fuel your child’s imagination while you both are learning how to draw a dinosaur. There’s so much to learn about these fascinating creatures that filled the Earth all those years ago, and you can spark those conversations while drawing together
How much do your children or grandchildren know about dinosaurs? Test their knowledge with some questions, like “How many different types of dinosaurs used to exist?” “Did you know there are roughly 700 different known species of extinct dinosaurs?” Those are just known species, not to mention those we don’t have a record of. Isn’t that incredible?!
Do your kiddos love dinosaurs? One dinosaur that we’re going to teach you how to draw today is the Brontosaurus, which is a long-necked dinosaur. Brontosaurus actually means, “thunder lizard’ and happens to be 72 feet tall, weighing a whopping 17 tons. That’s around the weight of 6 pickup trucks! As you begin this activity, share these fun facts with your children or grandchildren and watch their faces light up with amazement!
If your kids are visual learners and would prefer a visual step-by-step guide, follow our Drawing Lesson Of A Dinosaur found on our app. For this activity, we suggest reading the instructions thoroughly first, which will help you visualize the overall picture. Then begin with step one and carefully work your way through each step, paying close attention to detail.
Don’t forget, it doesn’t have to be perfect. The point is to learn how to draw something new and have fun while doing it. Now let’s get started!
How To Draw A Dinosaur
Step 1 – The Body
To start drawing your dinosaur, draw a line from left to right, curving downward, starting from what will be the back of the neck, down to what will end up being the start of the tail. Curve the line left out to a point, to form the tip of the tail. Starting at the tip of the tail, make one large curve from right to left downward, for what will be the belly of the dinosaur and come up to what will be the start of the neck of the dinosaur. Draw a line upward and to the left to whatever length neck you prefer your dinosaur to have.
Draw a curved line to the left to form what will be the underside of the dinosaur’s chin and then draw a line curving to the right for what will be the dinosaur’s mouth and nose. Then, draw a wider curve to the right in almost a half-circle to what will be the back of the dinosaur’s head. Next, draw a small curve to the right for where the head will connect to the top of the back of the neck.
With another curve to the right, draw the top of the head, then draw a straight line, which will be parallel to the other line you drew for the front of the neck, connecting back to the point at which you started.
Step 2 – Legs
To add legs to your dinosaur, pick two places along the belly of the dinosaur and start by drawing two half-circle arcs at whatever spacing you desire. Start with the left end of one of the half circles and draw a line down and slightly to the left. Then start at the right end of the half-circle and draw a line downward and slightly to the right. Connect those two lines you drew for the legs at the bottom which will be the feet of the dinosaur.
Repeat the process for the other half-circle. Now we’re going to start the process of drawing the legs on the other side of the dinosaur. To make the legs appear as though they are on the other side of the dinosaur, we’re going to start a line slightly behind the back leg starting from the body and drawing downward. Then, draw a 90-degree line, connecting the line you drew with the back of your back leg.
Now we’re going to draw the front right leg. Draw a line going down from the body parallel with the other front leg and then draw a line at 90 degrees to the right, connecting with the front of the front leg. Erase the body line between the lines of the legs so that the line no longer goes through the legs that you drew. This will make it appear as if the legs are attached to the outside of the body.
Step 3 – Toes
To draw toes on your dinosaur, simply draw 3 small, connected half-circles along the top of the flat foot line. On the feet on the far side, only the toes on the front-right will be visible. For this, you will draw the same half-circles, but stop once you hit the line for the front-left foot. The back-right leg will not have toes to be drawn because they will not be visible.
Step 4 – Features
To decorate your dinosaur with its own unique features, decide what you want to add to it to make it your own! One option you could do to decorate your dinosaur is to draw ovals of different shapes and sizes across the top-back of the dinosaur. Another thing you can do is draw stripes across your dinosaur’s back. They can be thick or thin stripes of the same or different colors. If you’re really feeling wild, add thick stripes and fill them in with different shapes of different colors. Make your dinosaur’s features however you would like, because this is your chance to get creative!
Step 5 – Eyes
Now it’s time to give your dinosaur its eyes. Since we’re looking at the side of the dinosaur, you only have to draw one eye. To form its eye, draw a circle somewhere at the front of the top half of the head. To make its eye look more realistic and cute, we’re going to draw another circle within the eye to form the pupil. Make the circle much smaller and place it on the left side within the circle.
Step 6 – Nose
To give your dinosaur a nose, we just need to add a small circle to the muscle you’ve already outlined, which is the smaller arc on the left side of the head. No need to fill the circle in here. Like the eye, since only one side of the dinosaur is visible, you only have to draw one circle for the nostril.
Step 7 – Mouth
To finish up your dinosaur outline, we’re going to add a mouth. To draw the mouth, start a line inside the dinosaur’s head on the line near where its chin is, below the nose. Draw the line going upward to the right, slightly curved, and stop, then back down at a 10-degree angle to the connecting line of the head.
Step 8 – Final Touches
To complete your dinosaur masterpiece, add whatever details you would like to make it your own. Color it in or add texture to make it more life-like. Does your dinosaur have a name? Add it to the page! Whatever details you’d like to add, now is the time!
Now What?
How did your dinosaurs turn out? We hope you had fun and found this guide helpful! Did your child breeze through the steps, or find some parts harder to draw than others? If you completed the activity with your grandchild, did they look to you for direction and clarity? What a great bonding activity!
To add a fun spin to this activity, we challenge you and your kiddo to create your own species of dinosaur. Give it a unique name and let your child’s imagination run wild with the possibilities of what it can look like and do. Or add wings to your dinosaur and turn it into a dragon. Whatever you do, just make sure you’re having fun and encouraging creativity!
Did drawing a dinosaur spark your child’s curiosity surrounding dinosaurs? Now that you’ve completed the drawing and coloring part of this activity, we encourage you to read with your child and discover all the intriguing facts about dinosaurs! Get access to thousands of e-books, games, drawing activities, and more with Caribu!
Our Pre-Reader Club comes with a three-month plan where you have unlimited access to all of our resources. Fulfill your child or grandchild’s interest in dinosaurs by introducing them to dinosaur games, puzzles, and more! You’ll love watching them have fun completing all the different types of dinosaur activities available. Get Caribu today and begin making memories that will last a lifetime!
Sources:
Dinosaur Facts | American Museum of Natural History