Description

Students learn more about each other in this fun animal game.

Supplies

• Find That Animal Printable Animal Cards

How to Play

1. Prep work: Print out two copies of the Find That Animal Printable Animal Cards. Cut them out and put them in pairs. For example put the snakes together, frogs together, bears together. Ensure you have a pair for each animal and there are enough animal cards for your entire group. Make sure to shuffle the cards.
2. Pass out the animal cards randomly. If there is an odd number of students you will need to play as well or make a group of three.
3. Have students spread out around the room. When you say, ‘ Go’ all students will act like the animal assigned to them. The goal is for each student to find the other student that is the same animal as them.
4. Once a student finds their animal partner they must sit together.
5. Once all students have found their animal partner pose the following prompts for all pairs to discuss:

• • If you could be any animal what would you be?
  • What animal are you most afraid of?
  • If you were an animal, where would you want to live?
  • What is one animal you would love to pet or hold?

6. Once pairs have discussed, collect the animal cards, mix them up,  and play again if time permits using different prompts.

• Prompts for Round 2:
  • If you were an animal that lived in the ocean, which animal would you want to be?
  • If you were an animal in the zoo, which animal would you want to be? Why?
  • If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, which would you choose?
  • If you were a butterfly what color would you want to be and why?
• Prompts for Round 3:
  • Would you rather be an animal that could fly or could swim? Why?
  • If you were an animal that lived in the snow and ice, which animal would you be?
  • Would you rather be an animal that slept at night or in the day?
  • If you could be any bird, which bird would you want to be and why?

Activity Prompts for Reflection

• What were some things you did to focus and find your animal partner?
• What was something you and your animal partner had in common?
• What was something you and your animal partner thought differently on?
• What was something new you learned about your animal partner?

Other Ways to Play

• Once the students find their animal partner they must work together to use both their bodies to make the shape of the first letter that their animal starts with (ex: Frog pair would make an “F” with both their bodies to show that they found their match).
• Once the students find their animal partner they must work together to come up with a fun fact they know about that animal while they wait for others to find their partners.
• Switch it up and don’t allow students to make the sound of their animal to find their partner.

Additional Notes

• Use the SEL Activity Prompts to tie other SEL competencies to this activity.
• If students are finding their animal partner too quickly, spread them out more to make it more difficult for them to find their partner, or turn on music to have a little bit of a distraction.
• If time permits you can share some of these unique animal trivia with them:
  • What is the only animal that can’t jump? Elephant
  • What is a rhinoceros horn made of? Keratin – the same substance that makes up hair
  • What animals sleep while standing up? Horses and cows
  • What type of bird can fly backward? A hummingbird
  • What animal has the biggest eggs in the world? Whale sharks
  • How many hours a day do sloths sleep? 20 hours
  • How fast can cheetahs run? 70 mph

Downloads and Links

Find That Animal Printable Animal Cards