Need a dinosaur in your life? Need a mini, pocket-version dinosaur in your life? Want to make it for free? This is the mini dinosaur free crochet pattern for you. The pattern works up really quickly and is good for using up extra yarn. So make one! Make ten! Make one in every color of the rainbow! And enjoy the mini dino goodness.
Crochet Mini Dino Pattern Notes
I made these little bad boys using continuous rounds. The legs are joined together to form the body, and the body leaves holes for you to attach the arms to. I used a 3.5 mm hook with medium weight yarn, and they worked up to be about 4.5 inches tall. Feel free to mix it up with different sizes of hooks and yarns to make an extra mini or not so mini dinosaur!
Stitches and Abbreviations
Here are the crochet stitches and abbreviations used in this pattern. Click the link if you need a refresher on how to do them!
- magic ring – mr
- chain -ch
- single crochet – sc
- slip stitch – slst
- increase – inc
- decrease – dec
Any parts of the pattern written in brackets [ ] will tell you that this part needs to be repeated. It will be followed by an ‘x’ to let you know how many times it should be repeated.
Materials
- 3.5mm crochet hook
- scissors
- tapestry needle
- stitch marker
- yarn for body and tail (I used some left over medium weight yarn)
- yarn for spikes
- fiberfill for stuffing
- materials for the face (I used puffy fabric paint because I wanted to have more control over what the face looked like, but you could also use safety eyes or buttons and embroidery thread)
Crochet Mini Dinosaur Free Pattern
Start with the legs, fasten off the first one but continue on to the body on the second one.
Legs
Make 2
With main yarn color, create a magic ring.
Round 1: 6 sc in mr (6)
Rounds 2-4: sc around (6)
Fasten off the first leg. DO Not fasten off the second leg. Instead, continue to the body. Stuff the legs firmly. I like to use the back of my crochet hook to really push the stuffing in there.
Body (continued from legs)
Round 5: ch 6, 6 sc around the first leg, 6 sc across ch, 6 sc around second leg, 6 sc across other side of ch (24)
Round 6: [3 sc, inc] x 6 (30)
Round 7: [2 sc, inc, 2sc] x 6 (36)
Rounds 8-14: sc around (36)
In the next round, you are going to be creating holes where the arms will be attached. If you crochet much tighter or looser than I do, you might need to adjust where you put the chains and skipped stitches. Simply crochet more or less single crochets at the beginning of the round to make sure that the arm holes are centered in front of the body.
Round 15: 7 sc, ch 3, skip 3 stitches, 7 sc, ch 3, skip 3 stitches, 16 sc
Round 16: 7 sc, 3 sc in ch, 7 sc, 3 sc in ch, 16 sc (36)
Rounds 17-20: sc around (36)
Begin stuffing the body, and continue stuffing along the way. Be sure to really stuff down into the legs as well.
Round 21: [2 sc, dec, 2 sc] x 6 (30)
Round 22: [3sc, dec] x 6 (24)
Round 23: [sc, dec, sc] x 6 (18)
Round 24: [dec, sc] x 6 (12)
Round 25: dec x 6 (6)
Fasten off. Make sure the body is stuffed firmly to the top. Use the tail to close the opening, and hide the end.
Arms
Make 2.
With the main color yarn, attach to the corner of the opening for the arm.
Round 1: 6 sc around the opening of the arm (6)
Rounds 2-3: sc around (6)
Fasten off. Push as much stuffing into the arm as you can. I use the back of my crochet hook to do this. Use the tail to pull the hole closed, and hide the end.
Tail
With main color yarn, create a magic ring.
Round 1: 4 sc in mr (4)
Round 2: inc, 3 sc (5)
Round 3: inc, 4 sc (6)
Round 4: inc, 5 sc (7)
Round 5: inc, 6 sc (8)
Round 6: inc, 7 sc (9)
Round 7: inc, 8 sc (10)
Round 8: inc, 9 sc (11)
Round 9: inc, 10 sc (12)
Round 10: inc, 11 sc (13)
Round 11: inc, 12 sc (14)
Round 12: inc, 13 sc (15)
Stuff firmly. Fasten off, and leave a long tail for sewing it to the body.
Spikes
Make 5.
With yarn for the spikes, create a magic ring.
Round 1: 4 sc in mr (4)
Round 2: [inc, sc] x 2 (6)
Round 3: [inc, sc] x3 (9)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew to the body. Do not stuff.
Putting Your Dino Together
Begin by sewing the tail to the back of the body. The tail should be a little curved and twisty. I like to leave it that way so the tail points slightly upward, but you could pull it and work it so that it’s more straight. I like to position mine a little low and pointed slightly downward so that it can be used to help the dinosaur stand up on his own. Before sewing it all the way to the body, add some more stuffing to make sure it’s nice and full.
Next, sew the spikes along the back. I started by sewing one all the way at the tip of the tail and then worked my way up.
Finally, add a face! You could embroider yours on, or, if you’re like me and suck at embroidering details, you can use fabric paint. I like doing this because it makes it super easy to add character to my little dinosaur.
And you’re done! They work up so quickly, it’s easy to make more. And if you want more mini patterns, check out all my mini patterns here.
Thanks for choosing this pattern, and feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
