Realistic diplodocus bending to drink beside a pond, with reeds, trees, and three-toed tracks in the mud.

Diplodocus at the Muddy Watering Hole

A long-necked diplodocus lowers its head toward a quiet pond while oversized three-toed tracks cross the muddy shore.

🎨 How to color it

Shade the diplodocus in dusty olive green, the pond in blue-gray, the cattails in golden brown, and the muddy tracks in soft umber. Use sharp colored pencils for the skin wrinkles and tail stripes, then switch to broader side-strokes for the open water and pale sky. Try making the footprints slightly darker at the heel and lighter at the toes, as if fresh mud is drying in the sun.

The story behind this coloring page

Fenn and the Borrowed Footprints — Every day, Fenn followed the dry rim of the watering hole, stretching his neck for the sweet reeds on the far side but never crossing the black, shiny mud. Read the full story →

Every day, Fenn followed the dry rim of the watering hole, stretching his neck for the sweet reeds on the far side but never crossing the black, shiny mud. It smelled like wet stone and old leaves, and when he poked it with one toe, it gulped, glop-glop, as if it wanted to keep him.

Until one day, a creature no bigger than Fenn’s eye popped from the reeds with mud on its beak and three wide toes on each foot. “Don’t step where it shines,” chirped the mudrunner, racing straight across the shore. Because of that, Fenn watched the tiny feet slap a curving trail: patter, skid, patter. Because of that, he lowered his head, matched one huge foot to each small print, and felt the mud tremble but hold.

Halfway across, the trail bent beside the water, and Fenn’s tail curled tight with worry. Finally, he took one more careful step, then another, until sweet reeds brushed his nose. Next time you spot those giant three-toed marks by the pond, see if you can trace the curving path that began with one tiny patter.