Three horns, one big frill, zero scares — these triceratops coloring pages are all adorable babies with big eyes and chubby cheeks. Print them for dino-obsessed kids, preschool dinosaur units, or a rainy-day prehistoric adventure.
About the Triceratops
Triceratops lived near the end of the Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago, in what is now North America. Its name means three-horned face, for the two long brow horns and shorter nose horn on its head. Behind those horns spread a large bony frill. A full-grown triceratops was about as long as a bus, weighed several tons, and used its beaked mouth to crop tough plants. Fossils from Triceratops are found most often in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota, where rock layers preserve its huge skulls especially well.
Scientists still debate what the frill was for. It may have protected the neck, helped triceratops recognize each other, or worked as a colorful display to attract attention, a bit like a peacock’s tail. If display was its job, then bright frill colors are a reasonable guess when coloring. Like other dinosaurs, triceratops hatched from eggs, and babies were much smaller than adults, with shorter horns and a smaller frill that grew as they got older and stronger each year. That growth makes baby pages especially fun to imagine and share.
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All 11 Triceratops Coloring Pages
Scroll down to browse every page below, or use the Print button under any image to print just that page.
A wide-eyed baby triceratops stands among ferns and rocks with leafy trees behind it. Medium — great for kids.
Ferns in two or three greens will frame this wide-eyed baby beautifully, with the rocks in warm gray and tan behind them. Try a soft sage green body with a cream belly, a pale peach frill edged in deeper green, and leafy trees in the back colored lighter than the ferns so the scene has front and back layers.
Color the background trees and rocks first in lighter shades, then do the baby last in richer color so it steps forward from the landscape. Short fern strokes radiating from each stem make the plants look feathery, and a soft blue sky wash peeking between the trees keeps the prehistoric scene feeling bright and friendly.
A close-up of a smiling baby triceratops showing off its spotted frill and little nose horn. Medium — great for kids.
Close-ups let the frill carry the whole color story, so try a warm tan body with the spotted frill in coral pink and its spots in cream or gold. The little nose horn stays ivory or pale gray, the cheeks get a soft rosy blush, and the smiling eyes look brightest left dark with white sparkles showing clearly.
Work from the outside of the frill inward, coloring each spot's edge first and then filling the middle a touch lighter for a gentle roundness. Because this face fills the page, smooth blending matters more than speed, so layer pencil colors lightly in small circles and save the smile's darkest outline for the very end.
A baby triceratops faces the viewer head-on, its tall spiky frill fanning out behind big friendly eyes. Medium — great for kids.
Facing you head-on, this baby's tall spiky frill is a perfect sunburst, so color it in alternating wedges of sunny yellow and warm orange. A teal or turquoise body makes those warm frill colors pop even more, and the big friendly eyes deserve glossy black with large white highlights left completely blank for maximum sparkle and charm.
Symmetry is the fun challenge in a head-on portrait, so color one frill spike on the left, then match it on the right to keep the pattern balanced. Markers suit the bold wedges well, and you can draw in a simple rainbow arc or a few clouds behind the spiky outline to finish the cheerful portrait.
A baby triceratops with a dotted frill stands in a forest of tall trees and broad-leafed plants. Medium — great for kids.
Tall trees call for deep forest greens in the background, with the broad-leafed plants in a brighter green so the layers separate clearly. Against all that green, a lavender or soft purple baby stands out sweetly, and its dotted frill can echo the forest with mint dots on a deeper purple base for a coordinated, storybook look.
Make the tree trunks long, straight strokes of brown with a few darker knots, and keep your leaf coloring scribbly and light on the background plants so they do not steal focus. Dabs of yellow pencil between the trees suggest sunlight filtering through, turning an ordinary forest page into a warm, glowing woodland scene for kids.
A baby triceratops with long curved brow horns and a tall nose horn smiles in a three-quarter pose. Medium — great for kids.
Curved brow horns look best in smooth ivory shading from a tan base to a bright white tip, with the tall nose horn matching them exactly. Try a dusty blue-gray body with a warm cream belly for a calm, handsome palette, and give the frill behind the horns a deep rose or burgundy edge to frame the face.
Three-quarter poses turn in space, so shade the side facing away a little darker than the side facing you to show that turn clearly. Long, smooth strokes along each curved horn follow its shape and make it look round and solid, and a soft shadow under the chin helps the head lift off the page.
A baby triceratops with a bumpy spotted frill peeks out from dense jungle foliage. Medium — great for kids.
Peeking out from dense jungle foliage, this baby needs colors that push through the green, so try a warm apricot or golden body against deep emerald leaves. The bumpy spotted frill can be cherry red with cream spots and bumps picked out in lighter pink, making the hidden face the brightest, happiest spot in the whole jungle scene.
Color the jungle leaves first in several greens, leaving the baby for last so its outline stays clean against the busy background you built. Add a darker green shadow on the leaves that overlap the frill to show depth, and you can draw in one bright tropical flower among the leaves as a hidden surprise for viewers.
A grinning baby triceratops with a leafy crown-like frill stands between trees in a sunny clearing. Medium — great for kids.
Sunny clearings deserve sunny colors, so give this grinning baby a golden yellow body with a soft orange frill shaped like a leafy crown. Color each leaf point on that crown in a different green to celebrate its unusual shape, and make the trees behind it mid-green with warm brown trunks so the clearing feels open and bright.
Leave a ring of pale yellow or even white around the baby before you color the grass, and the sunlight effect will make it glow in the clearing. Grass strokes pointing outward from the feet add energy, and you can draw in a few falling leaves from the crown's trees to echo its leafy frill design nicely.
A sturdy baby triceratops with impressive curved horns and a toothy grin climbs over cracked rocks. Medium — great for kids.
Rocky scenes look great with a sturdy slate blue or stone gray baby, which makes this climber's impressive curved horns in bright ivory stand out strongly. Its toothy grin stays white and cheerful, the cracked rocks underneath can be warm sandstone browns and tans, and a dusty rose frill adds one soft color against all that rugged stone texture.
Make the cracks in the rocks darker than the rock faces, using a fine dark pencil to trace each crack so the broken texture really shows. A little gray shadow under each climbing foot grounds the pose, and because climbing is hard work, a drawn-in bead of sweat or a determined eyebrow line adds funny character.
A tiny baby triceratops with a tall spiky frill and polka-dot spots beams up at the viewer. Medium — great for kids.
Tiny dinosaurs can carry the boldest patterns, so this little one's polka-dot spots look adorable in purple or berry pink over a mint green body. Its tall spiky frill can alternate pink and purple spikes like a party crown, and the beaming face looking up at you needs only rosy cheeks and glossy dark eyes to shine.
Because this baby is tiny on the page, the space around it is yours to play with at full size without overwhelming it. Try a soft rainbow or a field of simple flowers drawn in around the feet, and keep your coloring inside the small spots neat by using a sharp pencil point or a fine-tip marker throughout.
A baby triceratops with a scaly patterned neck and a tall horned frill stands in a confident pose. Medium — great for kids.
Confident poses suit rich, deeper colors, so try a forest green body with a golden frill tall enough to look like a royal collar behind the horns. The scaly patterned neck is the detail to celebrate, colored in alternating rows of green and gold scales, while the horns stay clean ivory to contrast with all that pattern and color.
Color the neck scales one row at a time, pressing a little harder on every other scale to build a woven, armor-like rhythm kids can feel with a fingertip. A confident stance looks even stronger with a firm dark outline retraced at the end, and a simple drawn-in shadow beneath the feet will anchor it proudly.
A cheerful baby triceratops with long sweeping brow horns and a ridged frill grins widely. Medium — great for kids.
Long sweeping brow horns draw the eye across the whole face, so shade them in smooth gradients from warm tan at the base to white at the sweeping tips. A cheerful coral or strawberry body suits that wide grin, and the ridged frill behind it can be colored ridge by ridge in alternating coral and cream stripes for rhythm.
Follow each ridge on the frill with a single long stroke from its base to its edge, then add a darker line in the groove between ridges to make the fan shape stand out. Wide grins look happiest with a bright pink mouth, and a white gel pen highlight along each horn finishes the portrait with shine.
Coloring Tips for Triceratops
- Realistic or rainbow? Triceratops were probably greenish-brown, but kids love purple, teal, or rainbow dinos — both are correct here.
- Frill first: color the big neck frill a different shade than the body so the three horns stand out.
- Spots and stripes: add your own polka dots or back stripes with a darker shade of the body color.
- Backgrounds: a quick green scribble of ferns or a blue sky behind the dino makes the page look finished fast.
- Crayons are perfect for these — the shapes are big and bold, ideal for little hands.
FAQ
Can I use these in my classroom?
Yes — free for personal and classroom use.
What size paper should I print on?
US Letter (8.5x11) works best; A4 is fine with fit-to-page enabled. Each coloring page below has its own Download and Print buttons.
What was the triceratops' frill for?
Scientists are not completely sure. The big bony frill may have protected the neck from predators, helped triceratops recognize members of their own herd, or served as a bright display for showing off. Because display is a real possibility, coloring the frill in bold, eye-catching colors is a smart, science-friendly choice.
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