Know any little dino fans? If you do, this build a Triceratops craft could be right up their street!
Triceratops means three horned face, and it’s thought those horns were used to fend off predators. In fact, a partial Triceratops fossil found in 1997 with a horn bitten off – the bite marks matched Tyrannosaurus.
It moved on four legs and was a herbivore that ate mainly prehistoric palm fronds. It lived in the late cretaceous period and could be up to 9m long and weigh 5500kg. For more cool dino facts head on over to the Natural History Museum’s Dino Directory.
This simple dinosaur activity is great for developing your child’s cutting and sticking skills, and an awesome chance to practice some pencil control and fine motor skills as well!
And this lovely cut and paste craft is brilliant for young children to use because it’s so simple for them to put together – even if they need a little help with the cutting.
There’s a color and a plain template – so your little ones can choose the colors and decorate their cute dino as they wish.
If you’re a teacher, this simple craft could also make a lovely dinosaur themed activity for the classroom!
Other cut and paste crafts you may want to check out:
Or you can browse all the other printable cut and paste crafts here.
What Skills Can Your Children Learn And Practice?
When making this terrific Triceratops craft, your children will have the chance to practice and develop some skills such as:
- Cutting Skills – if you feel they’re ready, you can let them have a go at cutting out the pieces all by themselves – they’ll need to be careful and have good scissor control if they want to cut out the pieces neatly
- Fine Motor Skills – when they’re sticking and picking up and moving the parts and placing them where they need to go
- Pencil Control – if you print off the black and white version they can practice their pencil control and develop hand strength through coloring.
This simple dinosaur craft will also give them a chance to practice their concentration and perseverance skills as they may find it tricky to place the pieces exactly where they want them to go.
How To Prepare This Build a Triceratops Craft
First you’re going to want to download the dinosaur templates by clicking on the download button at the bottom of the page – I’ve made a color and a black and white version.
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Other materials you’ll need:
- Safety scissors
- Card stock or Craft paper
- Some good glue
- Some coloring pencils or pens or other artsy materials
Once you’ve downloaded the templates, you’ll need to print them off onto paper or card.
Then, you can cut them out. Or if you’d like your children to get some cutting practice, you can let them have a go.
Then you can stick all the pieces together to make the Triceratops.
It can be really nice to let your kids have a bit of free rein here and see if they can work it out – kind of like a puzzle.
If they’re struggling, the order I’d do it in is:
- Stick the front foreleg to the front of the body
- Stick the back foreleg to the back of the body
- Stick the front hind leg to the front of the body
- Stick the back hind leg to the back of the body
- Stick the horns on the head
- Sick the eye to the head
- And if you really want to test those cutting skills, they can cut out the little spots and stick them on. Now, these are probably a little tricky for some due to their small size – so they could always skip these and just draw some on
(I expect you could have worked that out but I do like to be thorough…)
The finished one should look something like this:
If you want to, you could always laminate the pieces before putting them together and use them as a puzzle. That way, the different parts would be kept nice and they can use them again and again.
After that you’re all done!
Let your kids practice their cutting and sticking skills in a simple and fun way!
But Wait… There’s Also A Black And White Triceratops Template!
I’ve also made a black and white version which would be an awesome way for your little ones to practice their coloring skills and personalize their Triceratops in their own way!
So why not crack out the pens, crayons, paints or collage (or all of them if you’re feeling adventurous) and let your kids get creative!
I’d love to hear about what they create!
