Not every dinosaur was a scary giant! Meet 12 real dinosaurs that kids think are adorable or just plain funny-looking, then learn to draw your own cute dinosaur.
Quick Answer
Some of the cutest real dinosaurs are Psittacosaurus (a parrot beak and cheek horns), Mei long (found fossilized fast asleep), Leaellynasaura (huge eyes) and fluffy little Sinosauropteryx. Dinosaurs look cute when they are small, have big eyes, fluffy feathers or a funny face.
Scientists say we find things cute when they remind us of babies: round heads, big eyes and small bodies. Lots of real dinosaurs had exactly those features!
Big eyes
Big eyes in a small face look like a baby's, and our brains go “awww!” Leaellynasaura had huge eyes to see in the dark.
Small size
Lots of dinosaurs were tiny! Some were the size of a chicken, a cat or a pigeon, small enough to pick up (if they'd let you).
Fluffy feathers
Many dinosaurs were covered in fuzz or feathers, which makes them look like big, soft baby birds.
Funny beaks & faces
Parrot beaks, vacuum-cleaner mouths and little cheek horns give some dinosaurs a goofy, smiley look.
Silly names
A name like Micropachycephalosaurus (“tiny thick-headed lizard”) is fun to say and makes everyone giggle.
Babies & nests
Fossils of dinosaur babies, eggs and nests remind us that dinosaurs were little once too.
Say it: SIT-ah-co-SORE-us
💖 Why it's cute: A parrot beak and little cheek horns
📏 Size: About as long as a big dog
⭐ Its name means “parrot lizard.” It had a row of bristles sticking up from its tail like a brush, and scientists have even found a group of baby Psittacosaurus fossils snuggled close together.
Say it: may LONG
💖 Why it's cute: It was found fast asleep
📏 Size: About the size of a duck
⭐ Its name means “soundly sleeping dragon” in Chinese. This little feathered dinosaur was fossilized curled up with its head tucked under its arm, sleeping just like a bird does today.
Say it: lee-ELL-in-ah-SORE-ah
💖 Why it's cute: Huge eyes and a super-long tail
📏 Size: About the size of a turkey, plus a very long tail
⭐ Named after Leaellyn, the young daughter of the scientists who found it in Australia. It lived near the South Pole, where winters were dark for weeks, so its big eyes helped it see. Its tail was about three times longer than its body!
Say it: MY-kro-PACK-ee-SEF-ah-lo-SORE-us
💖 Why it's cute: The tiniest dinosaur with the longest name
📏 Size: Small, roughly the size of a cat
⭐ Its name means “tiny thick-headed lizard,” and it is one of the longest dinosaur names ever. That's a lot of name for such a little dinosaur! Can you say it three times fast?
Say it: nee-ZHAIR-sore-us
💖 Why it's cute: A wide, smiley vacuum-cleaner mouth
📏 Size: About as long as a bus
⭐ Its flat, wide mouth was packed with about 500 tiny teeth, and it munched low plants like a lawnmower. It always looks like it's grinning!
Meet Nigersaurus →
Say it: SY-noh-sor-OP-ter-ix
💖 Why it's cute: A fuzzy, striped raccoon tail
📏 Size: About the size of a chicken
⭐ Scientists studied tiny color cells in its fossil and found it was ginger-brown with a white-striped tail, a bit like a raccoon. It even had a dark “bandit mask” around its eyes!
Say it: MY-kro-RAP-tor
💖 Why it's cute: Four wings and shiny black feathers
📏 Size: About the size of a crow
⭐ It had feathered wings on its arms AND its legs, so it looked like a little four-winged glider. Its feathers were glossy black and shimmered blue, like a crow's.
More flying dinosaurs →
Say it: THERE-ih-ZEEN-oh-SORE-us
💖 Why it's cute: A giant, funny-looking Big Bird
📏 Size: About 30 feet long and taller than an elephant
⭐ It had a small head, a long neck, a round pot belly, fluffy feathers and claws as long as a baseball bat. Those claws look scary, but it mostly ate plants and used them to pull down branches.
Say it: pro-toe-SAIR-ah-tops
💖 Why it's cute: A chubby, pig-sized frill-face
📏 Size: About the size of a sheep
⭐ A little cousin of Triceratops with a beak and a bony frill but no big horns. Scientists have found many of them, from tiny babies to grown-ups, so we know a lot about how they grew up.
Say it: moo-SORE-us
💖 Why it's cute: Its babies could fit in your hands
📏 Size: Babies: hand-sized. Grown-ups: as long as a car
⭐ Its name means “mouse lizard” because the first fossils found were tiny babies. They grew up to be big long-necked plant eaters, but they started out small enough to hold.
Say it: an-KY-loh-SORE-us
💖 Why it's cute: A short-legged, waddling tank
📏 Size: About 20 to 25 feet long, longer than a car
⭐ Covered in bony armor with a big club on its tail, it waddled around on short legs like a giant armored turtle. Hard to hug, but very cute in a chunky way!
Say it: ah-PAT-oh-SORE-us
💖 Why it's cute: A tiny head on a gigantic body
📏 Size: As long as three school buses
⭐ One of the biggest animals ever to walk on land, yet its head was smaller than a horse's. A gentle giant with a little smile and a very long tail.
Start with a big round body
Draw a large oval, like an egg lying on its side. Round shapes look friendlier than pointy ones.
Add a big head
Give your dinosaur a head that's almost as big as the body. Big heads are a secret to drawing cute animals.
Draw huge eyes
Put the eyes low on the face and make them big, with a little white dot in each one so they sparkle.
Short, stubby legs
Draw four short, chunky legs (or two, if it's a T. rex!). Add three little round toes on each foot.
Finish with a smile
Add a small smile, rosy cheeks, round spikes or spots on the back, and a short curly tail. Then color it in!
Tip for parents: little ones can trace the shapes first. Ovals and circles are easier than straight lines for small hands.
Want more cute dinosaurs? Print our free dinosaur coloring pages, with a smiley Triceratops, Stegosaurus, T. rex, Brachiosaurus and a grinning Nigersaurus.
It's up to you! Many dinosaur fans pick Psittacosaurus, a small dinosaur with a parrot beak and little cheek horns. Other favorites are Mei long, which was found fossilized fast asleep, and Leaellynasaura, which had huge eyes.
Birds are dinosaurs, so the smallest dinosaur alive today is the bee hummingbird, which weighs less than a penny. Among extinct dinosaurs, some of the smallest were pigeon- to chicken-sized feathered dinosaurs like Anchiornis and Microraptor.
Very likely! Baby dinosaur fossils show big eyes, short snouts and round heads, the same features that make puppies and kittens look cute. Some, like baby Mussaurus, were small enough to fit in your hands.
Many dinosaurs had feathers, from fuzzy down to full wing feathers, and some plant-eaters like Psittacosaurus had bristles. No dinosaur had real fur, though. Fur is only found on mammals.
Micropachycephalosaurus is a favorite because it's so long for such a small dinosaur. Other fun ones are Irritator, named because the scientists were irritated by its fossil, and Mei long, which means “soundly sleeping dragon.”
Use round shapes: a big oval body, an oversized head, huge sparkly eyes, short stubby legs and a little smile. Follow our five easy steps on this page, then print one of our free dinosaur coloring pages for more practice.
Image credits (via Wikimedia Commons): Psittacosaurus, Therizinosaurus and Micropachycephalosaurus by TotalDino (CC BY 4.0); Protoceratops by TotalDino (CC BY-SA 4.0); Mei long by Matt Martyniuk (CC BY-SA 3.0); Leaellynasaura by Nobu Tamura (CC BY 3.0); Mussaurus by Sauropodomorph (CC BY-SA 4.0); Sinosauropteryx by Fiann M. Smithwick and Robert Nicholls (CC BY 4.0); Microraptor by Matt Martyniuk (CC BY 3.0). Apatosaurus, Nigersaurus, Ankylosaurus and coloring art by Puffsaurus.
Does your little one love cute dinosaurs? 🦕
Sing along with our dinosaur nursery rhymes and kids' songs!
