Surfing Costa Rica 2025: When to Go, Where to Go & What to Know
Every time I travel to Costa Rica I am in wonder at all of the wildlife I see just from driving around the country on the main roads. If I turn off on to the beach and park, or find a nature trail then the number of animals I spot increases ten fold. Sometimes I look at other travelers and see their kids sitting in the back seat just staring into their phones and not appreciating the nature world around them. So with that in mind I created this Costa Rica coloring checklist.
It has ten of the more common animals I see when traveling. It has the white faced monkey (which I’ve seen more than the other three species of monkeys found in Costa Rica). It has a sloth which is hard to spot at first, but if you know what type of tree leaves they eat, or find a guide who knows where they are then it gets a lot easier to find. I’ve included the red macaw, whose loud squaks often announce their arrival in the almond trees along the coast. The Blue Morpho butterfly is a magical site, a burst of blue floating in the green canopy. There is also an agouti which is a little bigger than a squirrel, and a coatimundi whose long tail stands straight up when it is running.
I’ve also included the keel billed toucan whose big yellow beak shakes when making its call. There is the tree frog, which the kids can color whichever type they see, from yellow to red to blue to green to black with green spots. And the iguana is a favorite since it can often be spotted from the road or hiding out by the pool. Finally, the hummingbird, which also can be colored any shade of the rainbow. There are actually 47 species of hummingbirds in Costa Rica.
There were some other animals I had left off this checklist, but will be sure to add them to the next one. They included a whale, a sea turtle, a snake, a dolphin, the crocodile, and the Scarlet Tanager bird. Also a tapir, ocelot, and jaguar would be incredible to spot but they are very elusive and I wanted to choose animals that kids could find fairly easy.
This coloring checklist if free for anyone to download and print. I’ve translated it to Spanish, so you can print a version for each side of a sheet of paper and kids (and adults) can learn some new Spanish words. I would ask that you share it with friends who also may be planning trips to Costa Rica, and share my website so I can assist with hotel, tours, and transportation reservations. I can even tell them where I have spotted all of these amazing creatures. I hope you enjoy them.
