Green crayon ready? The swamp is open for business.
Thirty free crocodile coloring pages, and no sheet repeats. Some are chunky cartoon crocs built for preschool hands, and others are detailed river and reef scenes that will hold an older kid for an hour.
Scroll, pick the ones you like, and print. Every sheet is free and nothing here needs a sign up.
Below the sheets there are color notes taken from real crocodile field data, a short guide to which page to print first, and five things to do once the coloring is finished.
Cute Baby Crocodile
A round-cheeked baby crocodile stands in shallow water with its mouth open in a grin and its tail curling behind it. Reeds and a leafy bush fill the space behind, and ripples spread out around its feet. The outlines are thick and the shapes are wide open, which suits small hands and fat crayons. A soft lime green on the back with a pale yellow belly keeps the spots on its sides visible.
A long crocodile stretches out on a flat rock inside a zoo habitat, with a tall fence and a strip of grass behind it. The scales run in neat rows down the back and tail, so this one rewards a sharp pencil and some patience. Grey on the rock and warm brown on the fence leave the crocodile as the brightest thing on the page.
This crocodile has claimed the deck chair, sunglasses on and a wide brimmed hat tipped back on its head. Clouds and a flat sea horizon sit behind it, so there is a lot of open sky to fill. The shades stay dark, but the hat can be any color at all. Print it on the first hot day of the year.
A crocodile lifts its head out of the shallows with its jaws wide open, and small bubbles float up toward the reeds behind it. The striped belly and the bumpy back give two different textures to work with. Leave the bubbles white so they read against a brown green pond.
The head rests right at the waterline while lily pads drift past. The eye is drawn large and heavily detailed, which makes it the best place to start. Murky greens and browns in the water sell the swamp, and a lighter green on the snout keeps the crocodile from disappearing into it. Older colorers can shade some pads darker than others so a few sit closer to the front.
Seen from behind the tail, this crocodile rests on a sandy bank with water in front of it and long grass behind. The ridged back leads your eye all the way up to the head. Grayish green on the back with a pale underside matches the real animal, which is covered in the color notes further down. Sand needs almost nothing, so keep the beige light.
Here the whole animal lies along the riverbank, mouth slightly open, tail curving off into the grass. It is one of the most detailed sheets in the set, with scales, back ridges and loose pebbles all drawn separately. Two greens, one light and one dark, make the back look rounded instead of flat. Save it for an afternoon with time to finish.
A crocodile walks out from under tall trees hung with trailing moss, and a low sun sits between the trunks. There are three layers to color here: the sky, the trees, and the crocodile itself. Warm oranges in the sky against cool greens on the ground make the whole page feel like evening.
Underwater, a crocodile glides above a coral bed with the surface drawn as wavy lines across the top of the page. Bubbles trail from its snout and a shell sits in the bottom corner. This is the sheet to break the green rule on: pinks, purples and oranges through the coral against a blue background. The reef is full of small shapes, so fine tip pens beat crayons here.
A large crocodile rests half in the water while a few smaller ones swim around her through the reeds. The little ones are drawn with much simpler lines than the adult, so two kids of different ages can share one page. Keeping the babies a lighter green than the mother makes the family easy to read at a glance.
This crocodile is coming up out of the water mid splash, jaws open and droplets flying off in every direction. The spray is drawn as open teardrop shapes that stay brightest left white or filled with the palest blue in the box. Its body is turned toward you, so the belly stripes and the bumpy back both show. One of the livelier sheets in the set, and it looks good taped to a bedroom wall.
Lotus flowers and buds ring the pond while a crocodile floats among the lily pads. The flowers are the main event: pinks and creams against flat green pads. Round pads fill quickly, so a younger child can work the water while someone older takes the crocodile, whose back is drawn as a grid of small scales.
The sky does most of the work on this one: stars and long thin clouds above a crocodile lying still on the bank. Almost half the page is open sky, which makes it a good candidate for a dark blue watercolor wash. Leave the stars uncolored so they glow. A white gel pen can add a few more once the wash is dry.
Sunbathing on a fallen log, this crocodile takes up the top half of the page while wood grain runs the full width beneath it. There are only three things to color, the log, the water and the croc, so it fits in a five minute session. Brown on the wood with a green crocodile on top is all it needs.
A crocodile has gone completely still because a butterfly has landed on the tip of its snout. Grass and water take the bottom half of the sheet, and the eye is drawn with a patient, sideways look. Bright wings against a green snout give the page its one spot of strong color. Ask a younger child to name the butterfly before they start.
A crocodile in a pointed party hat leans toward a frosted cake with a few candles on top. The hat and the cake are the only small shapes on the page, so they are worth doing first while hands are fresh. Stripes on the hat and drips down the frosting give kids a pattern to repeat. Print two copies and one can become a homemade birthday card.
Big teardrop raindrops fall around a crocodile standing in shallow water with its chin lifted. Ripple lines run right across the page, so one blue pencil fills the whole bottom half. No clouds are drawn in, which leaves the sky open to invent.
A crocodile in a pirate hat stands over a wooden chest on a sandy beach, with a palm tree leaning in from the right. The chest has planks, straps and a latch drawn separately, so it can be made as fancy as anyone likes. Gold on the latch and deep red on the hat sell the pirate story. Pair it with a treasure map torn from a brown paper bag.
A crocodile’s head fills the top left of the page while a water lily blooms right in front of its snout. Cattails stand in the shallow water behind. The petals have room for pink shading that runs from tip to center. With the fine lines around the eye and jaw, this one sits closer to an adult coloring page than a kids’ sheet.
A crocodile tips its head back with its mouth open while round flakes drift down all around it. The background is left almost bare, so a pale grey or blue wash gives the flakes somewhere to fall from. Leave the flakes themselves white and they stand out with no work at all.
A crocodile crouches beside a sandcastle tower at the edge of the water, claws spread out in the wet sand. Clouds bank along the horizon behind it. Sand and sky are both soft colors, so press lightly there and save the strong green for the crocodile. Good for the evening after a day at the beach.
Up on its back legs, this crocodile has a diamond kite sailing off the top corner on a long string. The string cuts straight across the sky, which is a good excuse for a loud kite over a plain background. Blocks of color in the kite panels keep younger kids busy. Add a paper streamer tail afterward and it turns into a wall poster.
A crocodile hauls itself up a wooden climbing frame with a rope ladder, back claws hooked over a rung. The frame is all straight lines and the crocodile is all curves, which makes them easy to separate with color. Warm wood brown against a cool green works well. Kids who like drawing can add the rest of the playground behind it.
Standing upright in a pair of overalls, this crocodile reaches into a wooden crate, collecting vegetables from the garden. The crate is packed with round and leafy shapes, so every vegetable can take a different color. Denim blue on the overalls against a green crocodile gives the page some contrast. It pairs well with a talk about where food comes from.
Both front feet rest on an open book while the tail curls up and over the back. The pages are drawn as blank ruled lines, so anyone who wants to can write a real title or a sentence into them. A dark cover makes the white pages stand out. A favorite for reading charts and library displays.
A large cratered moon hangs in the top corner while a crocodile on the bank lifts its snout toward it. Each crater is outlined, so a pale grey inside them looks convincing with very little effort. A deep navy sky behind a white moon gives the page all of its contrast. This is a good bedtime sheet.
A crocodile pushes through a spring meadow full of blooming flowers and buzzing bees, with a tall daisy standing right beside its head. Grass fills the bottom of the page in long overlapping strokes. Yellow flower centers and two or three different greens in the grass keep it from going flat. There is a lot of fine line work down in that grass, so it suits older kids.
A cartoon crocodile with saucer eyes balances in a wooden rowboat, grinning at something off the page. The style is far simpler than the realistic sheets, with fat outlines and big empty shapes. Wood brown for the boat and any green at all for the croc. This is the one to hand a preschooler.
A crocodile sits up on a checked picnic blanket with a teapot and a few teacups laid out in front of it. The blanket squares are the fun part: alternate two colors and the whole page pulls together. The tea set is small and fiddly, so pass it to whoever likes detail. Set out real cups and a stuffed toy guest and this becomes a whole afternoon.
Chef’s hat on and spatula in hand, a crocodile works over a pan on the stove with a plate waiting beside it. The apron is one big empty shape, which makes it the natural place for stripes, spots or a name. Keep the counter and stove in one flat color so the crocodile stays the center of attention. Print it for the kitchen wall on a cooking day.
By using our free coloring pages, you acknowledge and agree to our full disclaimer. All materials are for personal, non-commercial use only and all rights belong to their respective license holders.
What Colors Make a Crocodile Look Real?
Grayish green on the back and tail with a white to yellowish belly is what an adult American crocodile actually looks like (1). Work a little olive or grey brown along the spine, leave the underside almost bare, and a sheet reads as a real animal instead of a cartoon.
Water is the other half of the job. Swamp and river water is rarely blue. Brown green with darker patches under the lily pads sits closer to the real thing, and it pushes a green crocodile forward instead of letting it blend in.
Not every sheet wants realism, though. The chef, the pirate and the birthday croc were drawn for invented colors, so save the field guide palette for the river, shore and swamp pages.
Which Crocodile Coloring Page Should You Print First?
Print Cute Baby Crocodile or Crocodile on a Boat first if the colorer is under five, since both have thick outlines and very few small shapes. Around six to ten, the birthday, pirate and kite sheets carry enough props to stay interesting without demanding fine control. From about ten upward, the coral reef, the water lily close up and the mossy forest sheet all have overlapping detail that rewards a fine tip pen.
For a school report, print the shore and river sheets, since those are drawn like the real animal. According to the National Park Service, a male American crocodile can reach about 20 feet, though wild males rarely exceed 14, a female lays 20 to 60 eggs that incubate for about 85 days, and a wild crocodile lives 50 to 70 years. Alligators, by contrast, carry 74 to 80 teeth at a time, and their big fourth tooth slides into a socket in the upper jaw and disappears when the mouth shuts, which is one of the quickest ways to tell them apart in a photo (2).
Activities to Do With Crocodile Coloring Pages
The sheets are a starting point, not the whole activity. Here are five ways to keep a crocodile afternoon going after the last crayon goes down.
Create a Textured Crocodile
Crocodile skin is bumpy, and flat paper is not. Glue crushed eggshell, dried lentils, green glitter or a scrap of bubble wrap onto the back and tail, then color the rest as normal. The detailed river and swamp sheets take texture best because the scales are already drawn in blocks. Keep the glue to the animal and leave the background flat so the texture reads.
Build a Shoebox Swamp
Paint the inside of a shoebox blue and green for water and grass, then cut out a colored crocodile and stand it inside on a folded card tab. Real twigs, moss and pebbles finish the habitat. The lotus pond and swamp sheets give you extra lily pads to cut out and float on the floor of the box.
Croc-on-a-Stick Puppet
Print a favorite crocodile on cardstock so it survives handling, color it, cut it out and tape a craft stick to the back. Cutting along the jaw and taping the two halves separately gives the puppet a mouth that opens. Songs like “Five Little Monkeys Teasing Mr. Crocodile” turn straight into a puppet show.
Crocodile Fact Cards
Glue a finished crocodile to a large index card and write one fact on the back. There is real material to work with, all of it per the National Park Service: females lay 20 to 60 eggs per clutch, the eggs incubate for about 85 days, and a wild American crocodile can live 50 to 70 years. A stack of these makes a simple show and tell set.
“Snap” Memory Game
Print two copies each of several sheets, color the pairs the same way, then cut them into matching squares. Turn them face down and play memory, shouting “Snap” on a match. Use four pairs for a preschooler and eight or more for an older child.
FAQs
What Is the Difference Between a Crocodile and an Alligator?
The snout is the giveaway: a crocodile’s is narrow and triangular, while an alligator’s is broad and rounded. The teeth settle it too, because a crocodile’s fourth lower tooth stays visible when its mouth is closed and an alligator’s tucks away out of sight. Color matters as well, since crocodiles run grayish green while alligators tend to look darker in the water.
What Colors Should I Use for a Realistic Crocodile?
Use grayish green on the back and tail and a white or pale yellow belly, which is how an adult American crocodile is actually colored. Layer a little olive or grey brown along the spine for depth, and keep the underside nearly bare paper. For the swamp and river sheets, brown green water looks more convincing than blue. Fantasy sheets like the chef and the pirate need none of this, so let those be as loud as you like.
Where Do Crocodiles Live in the Wild?
Crocodiles live in tropical regions across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia, always near water. They are semi-aquatic, splitting their time between riverbanks, where they warm up, and the water, where they hunt. In the United States it lives in southern Florida. That mix of bank and water is exactly what the shore, river and swamp sheets in this set are drawing.
Are These Coloring Pages Suitable for Toddlers?
Yes, several are drawn specifically for small hands. Start with “Cute Baby Crocodile” and “Crocodile on a Boat”, which both use thick outlines and large open shapes that forgive a wobbly crayon. “Crocodile on a Log” is another easy one, since it has only three areas to fill. Leave the coral reef and the water lily close up for older children, as those are packed with fine lines.
How Do I Print These Coloring Pages?
Click the image you want, then print the file that opens straight from your browser. Standard white printer paper is fine for crayons and pencils, but cardstock holds up better for markers, puppets and anything that gets cut out. Set your printer to fit the page so no part of the drawing is trimmed at the edges. Grayscale printing saves color ink and makes no difference to a line drawing.
