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A game for finding out how each animal moves
Drag the animal to the way it gets around. Five ways, thirty-seven animals, and no trick answers.
The board shows five places, each one led by a guide animal: a giraffe for the ones that walk, a snake for the ones that crawl, an eagle for the ones that fly, a dolphin for the ones that swim and a kangaroo for the ones that jump. The round's animals sit on the tray below, and the child drags each one where they think it belongs. A wrong drop sends the animal gently back to the tray so they can try again — no red crosses, no error sounds.
A game is eight rounds, and the first ones are shorter so children can ease in. No round ever brings animals from all five groups at once, and that is deliberate: if there were always one of each, the last one could be worked out by elimination instead of by thinking.
Sorting animals by how they move
At school this usually shows up as sorting animals by movement or by locomotion, and nearly always as cut-and-paste worksheets. This is the same idea, playable: put it on the whiteboard and let children come up one at a time, or hand a tablet to each of them. The game says every animal's name out loud in whichever language is selected.
What it practises
- Grouping by a feature that isn't in the picture and has to be worked out from the animal.
- The vocabulary of the five verbs, heard and read at the same time.
- The fine motor control of dragging with a finger and letting go in the right place.
- Getting it wrong with no consequences, which is how children learn to try things.
No sign-up and nothing to install. It runs on phones, tablets and computers, in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.
Frequently asked questions
What age is it for?
We built it for ages 4 to 8. Before 4 the idea of grouping by a feature is still hard, even though dragging comes much earlier. If a child can't read yet, the guide animal in each place is enough to work out what it means.
How do you play?
Drag an animal from the tray at the bottom to the place it belongs. Tapping works too: one tap on the animal, one on the place. If the place is wrong, the animal comes back on its own and can be tried again.
Which animals are in it?
Thirty-seven, spread across the ones that walk or run, crawl, fly, swim and jump. Each round uses only a few, so two games in a row won't bring the same ones.
Why isn't the penguin in it?
Because it swims and it also walks, and in a sorting game that turns a reasonable answer into a mistake. The crocodile and the lizard are out for the same reason — they walk — and so is the hare, which drawn looks exactly like the rabbit. We would rather have fewer animals and no unfair answers.
How Animals Move is one of the 11 logic games on Little Kids Games.
