Alligator Coloring Pages

Easy alligator coloring pages

The five easy pages have big shapes and thick lines for young children: a chubby cartoon alligator sitting up and waving, a huge alligator grin full of triangle teeth, a baby alligator smiling out of its egg, and an alligator floating in a pond with a frog on a lily pad. The fifth is a plain alligator template with a dashed line around it, so it can be coloured, cut out and used for a craft, a puppet or a classroom display.

Alligator or crocodile?

The easiest way to tell them apart is the snout. An alligator’s snout is broad and rounded like the letter U, while a crocodile’s is longer and pointed like a V — one page shows the two side by side from above so you can compare them. When a crocodile shuts its mouth, some of its lower teeth still stick out along the sides, but an alligator’s wider upper jaw hides most of its lower teeth. American alligators live in the fresh water swamps, rivers and lakes of the south-eastern United States, while crocodiles live in warm rivers and coasts across Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas and cope with salt water much better. The southern tip of Florida is the only place where the two live side by side.

Baby alligators

A mother alligator builds a nest by piling up plants and mud into a mound and lays her eggs inside, where the rotting plants keep them warm. The warmth decides whether each baby will be male or female. When the babies are ready to hatch they squeak from inside their eggs, and the mother opens the nest and carries them to the water in her mouth. One page shows two babies breaking out of their eggs on top of the nest while their mother keeps watch, and another shows three babies riding on her back.

Silly alligators and crocodiles

Some pages are just for fun: an alligator on a skateboard in a helmet and knee pads, an alligator in sunglasses sunbathing with three turtles on its back, an alligator lying on a log with a frog, and an alligator brushing its teeth with a giant toothbrush — alligators and crocodiles grow new teeth to replace lost ones all their lives. A crocodile basks with its jaws wide open, which helps it cool down, and another swims underwater with a school of fish.

Realistic alligator and crocodile coloring pages

The six detailed pages suit coloured pencils and fine markers. The realistic American alligator has every scute along its back drawn as a separate shape; the crocodile head portrait shows the jagged teeth and the crest of scales behind its eyes; the Everglades page puts an alligator among lily pads with a heron, turtles and a frog; and there is an alligator mandala, a zentangle crocodile and an alligator doodle page.

Print the whole set at once

The button at the top of this page bundles all twenty into a single download, so you can print the lot for a class or a rainy afternoon rather than picking through them one at a time. Every page comes as a PDF in both US Letter and A4.

More reptiles and pond life

Alligators and crocodiles belong to the same ancient group of reptiles as the dinosaurs, which have their own dinosaur coloring pages. For more pond life see the frog coloring pages, there is a crocodile among the safari animal coloring pages, and A is for alligator in the letter A coloring pages.