Animal Tracks Coloring Pages and Activities

Winter snow or spring mud makes it easy for a child or a beginning tracker to learn about animal tracks or "footprints" - where to find them, what they look like, and how to follow an animal's trail. Children are fascinated by animal tracks and feel they are playing "animal detective" when they identify and follow tracks.

Animal tracks coloring pages and activities are extremely difficult to locate on the Internet. The choices are, therefore, quite limited. Nevertheless, I have compiled animal tracks coloring pages, activities, and games that are geared toward teaching children about animal tracks. For that matter, adult trackers would benefit from viewing the websites listed below.

1. Color and Match Animal Tracks Coloring Page

Halfway down the page you will find the link to an excellent printable animal tracks coloring page. After printing it out, kids can color the animals and then match the animal tracks with each animal. The animals shown are rabbit, mouse, turkey, coyote, bear, quail, and deer.

2. Camping and Animal Tracks Coloring Page

Here is an excellent, fun animal tracks coloring page depicted in a camping setting. Tracks are "hidden" all around the campsite. As this animal tracks coloring page is fairly detailed and has more than just animal tracks, children will certainly enjoy coloring it. PDF file

3. Curious George Printable Animal Tracks Coloring Page

This Curious George-themed printable animal tracks coloring page is a maze in which you trace the animal tracks of an animal to its home. The animals are quail, pig, and beaver, and kids can color the tracks of each animal a different color. This fun follow-the-tracks animal tracks coloring page and maze help with the development of children's concentration and discernment.

4. North American Mammal Animal Tracks Coloring Page

Here are twelve great animal tracks of North American mammals. Because they are drawn free hand, some are a little raggedy looking (like the opossum) but will do just fine when first teaching kids about animal tracks. Can be printed out to make an animal tracks coloring page

5. Easy Animal Tracks Coloring Page & Activity

These are basic pictures of a bird, cat, fox, and deer, under each of which is an empty box. Cut out the tracks shown and paste them in the in the corresponding empty box below each animal. This is an easy animal tracks coloring page meant for younger children.

6. Animal Tracks Activity Page

This is both an activity and an animal tracks coloring page although the pictures of the animals may be a little hard to color due to their darkness. Six common mammals are depicted with a list of tracks beside them. Draw lines to connect the animals with their tracks. Animal tracks pictured are deer, raccoon, wolf, mouse, bear, and beaver.

7. Printable Worksheet or Game

This printable worksheet or game is similar to the one above, except rather than pictures of animals, there are animal words that you have to match with its tracks. All together, there are eight animal tracks: raccoon, great blue heron, porcupine, skunk, gray fox, red tailed hawk, great horned owl, and bobcat.

8. Online Animal Tracks Game

Although this is not an animal tracks coloring page, it is a great online game for kids. Match the animal tracks with the animal and get positive feedback when correct.

9. Match the Animal Tracks Coloring Page

Eight animal tracks are pictured, each with a line underneath where you can write which animal made them. The answers are scrambled in a box. This animal tracks coloring page is the only place I found a snake track. Other tracks include a deer, duck, lizard, skunk, chipmunk, bobcat, and coyote.

10. Field Guides to Animal Tracks and Tracking

An excellent online field guide to animal tracks and tracking is from Princeton's Outdoor Action website. It's like a mini-course on tracking, sign, aging tracks, and classification of tracks. Besides the mini-course, Outdoor Action offers printable tracking cards, an excellent pdf file on animal tracking, and a guide to nature observation and stalking. One reason I consider this a premium site for learning about tracking is that the information is taken from notes on animal tracking and nature observation written during a class given by Tom Brown, Jr., the nation's foremost tracking expert.

Beartracker's Animal Tracks Den is an online field guide to animal tracks and a great reference whether you are just learning tracks or have been tracking for years. He has a quick-reference track guide as well as extensive lists of mammal, bird, amphibian, reptile, and insect tracks. If you see a track you are not familiar with, this is a great online tracking site on which to look it up.

There are many good guides on animal tracks you can purchase for either teaching your children or yourself about animal tracks, the most comprehensive probably being the Peterson Animal Tracks Field Guide. If you are teaching your children about animal tracks, you might want to order a copy of Animals Don't Cover Their Tracks, a coloring book that features animals and their tracks.