Learn how to use shadows to make this amazing Dinosaur Silhouette Art idea. Kids of all ages will love using their dinosaur toys and a sunny day to make a one of a kind picture. This is a fantastic art and craft activity that even preschoolers can enjoy.
Disclosure: Adult supervision is required for all activities at all times. Some of the links provided in this blog are affiliate links. I will be paid a small commission if you use this link to make a purchase.
More Dinosaur Crafts to try
If you have a dino lover at home, you’ll love these other dinosaur themed arts and crafts. These art ideas are fun and easy, perfect for a busy mom or an early years classroom.
- Free Dinosaur Coloring Pages
- Paper Plate Triceratops
- Paper Plate Brachiosaurus Craft
- Cardboard Dinosaur Craft
- Coffee Filter Dinosaur Craft
For more ideas, take a look at these 30 Dinosaur Crafts for Kids.
Materials Needed
- Green paper in different shades of green.
- Scissors
- Glue
- Pen
- Black paint
- Toy dinosaur
How to Make Dinosaur Silhouette Art
1. Collect your materials.
I chose three different shades of green for this dinosaur art project. However, you can choose whatever colors you like to make your picture.
2. Draw some trees.
Drawing a couple of trees onto one of your sheets of paper is totally optional. I just wanted my background to have different colors on it and I wanted to see how the picture would turn out with a couple of trees.
3. Cut out some leaves.
I made leaves out of two shades of green, the lightest and the medium shade of green. Cutting out all of the leaves was a lot of work.
While this is fantastic for developing fine motor skills, it took a bit of patience. If you have a leaf shaped paper punch on hand, then I would recommend using that instead to help speed up the process.
4. Glue the trees and leaves onto your background paper.
Use a glue stick to paste the trees and medium shades of green leaves onto your background first.
Then paste the leaves in the lightest shade of green over the top of that. Let your picture dry before you move onto the next step.
If you’re doing this activity with preschoolers or kindergarteners, you can make an easier background. I let my kids tear their paper into strips and glue them down. The stripe pattern was much easier for them to do by themselves and they loved how their pictures turned out.
5. Head outside and arrange your dinosaur toy.
Of course, you’re going to need a sunny day to make this part of the picture. However, a strong lamp arranged on one side of the dinosaur could work too.
Play around with how the shadow looks while you are arranging your dinosaur toys. You can move your dinosaur forwards and backwards to make it look bigger or smaller, in comparison to your background.
You can also lift it up by getting it to stand on some toy blocks. This is a great way to get kids to play around with shadows and how moving the objects around changes the way their shadow looks.
6. Use a pen to trace around the shadow of the dinosaur.
Try to keep your paper and dinosaur as still as possible when tracing around the shadow. I found that the hardest part about this step for my young kids was getting the shadows to match up again when they accidentally bumped their picture.
I recommend tracing over the pen outline again with a thick black marker before painting. It makes the outline more defined and easier for the children to see.
7. Paint the inside of the dinosaur’s shadow with black paint.
You can use a paintbrush and black paint for this step, Or you can use a black paint pen or crayon.
I prefer to use my black paint pen for the smaller details, like the tip of the tail and the arms. However I think that using a regular paintbrush for the larger parts of the body was faster than coloring in the entire picture with a pen.
Are you going to make this Dinosaur Silhouette Art with your kids?
Don’t forget to pin the idea for later.
