Flying and Sea Reptile Coloring Pages

These coloring pages feature the prehistoric reptiles that ruled the sky and the sea while dinosaurs walked the land. Pterosaurs, often called flying dinosaurs, stretch their wide wing membranes over cliffs and lagoons, while plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs and pliosaurs swim through ancient oceans. Strictly speaking, none of them are dinosaurs, which makes the pages a fun way to learn a surprising fact.

Sky pages include a Quetzalcoatlus spreading its wings, a Pteranodon flying over a smoking volcano, a Rhamphorhynchus gliding over a sandy shoal, a Tapejara over a mangrove estuary, a Dimorphodon in a fern wetland and a Pterodaustro wading in a shallow lagoon. Under the waves, kids can color a Mosasaurus hunting around a coral reef, an Elasmosaurus watching the reef from the deep, a plesiosaur beneath an ice tunnel, an ichthyosaur swimming through a stone arch and a pliosaur in a deep underwater canyon. Between the two worlds, a Nothosaurus rests on a flat coastal rock.

The pages are medium difficulty for kids ages 6 to 10. Bold outlines define wings, flippers and long necks, while rocks, waves and reefs add finer details. Coloring them builds fine motor control, pencil grip and patience, and kids pick up the names of ancient animals as they go.

Younger kids can begin with a single pterosaur in flight or an ichthyosaur over the seabed. Older kids will enjoy the reef, canyon and volcano scenes. Kids can compare wings and flippers, then invent their own colors for skin and crests, since for most of these animals scientists can only guess what colors they were.

The pages are free to download and print as many times as you like, which makes it easy to try a second color scheme. They are sized for A4 paper and scale to US Letter with "Fit to page." Standard 20 lb printer paper suits colored pencils; choose cardstock for markers or paint so nothing bleeds through.

Next, explore the land giants in Herbivorous Dinosaur Coloring Pages and Predatory Dinosaur Coloring Pages, or visit today's oceans in Fish and Ocean Life Coloring Pages.