Game rules & extra content
Scroll down to see FOUR different ways to play this amazing game!
Game rules & extra content
Monkey Says Baa? Game
In this game, children match an animal sound made by another player, parent, or educator to the image of the animal. Fun!
Targeted Skills: This game helps children develop associative, attention, and visual recognition skills by challenging them to recognize animals based on mimicked sounds.
How to Win: The player with the most matched cards wins!
Setup: Remove one of each animal card from the deck. You will now have two sets of identical cards. Place one set of cards facedown creating a draw pile. Spread the other set of cards faceup until they fill the playing area. Make sure no cards overlap.
Variations for Easier Play: An adult draws the cards and imitates each animal sound for younger kids. To add more structure to the game, you can give each player a single turn guessing what animal makes a particular sound.
How to Play: Decide who goes first. The player picks an animal card from the top of the pile and makes the animal’s sound without showing the card to others. For instance, if the player draws the lion card, they will say "Roar!" to imitate the lion's sound. Other players try to guess which animal is being imitated, and the first player to guess correctly gets to keep the card and take the matching animal card from the faceup spread. If no one guesses correctly, the card is returned to the bottom of the draw pile. The turn then passes to the next player on the left, who draws the next animal card and repeats the steps above. Play continues in this way until all pairs have been collected. Each player is allowed only one guess per turn, and the first player to correctly guess the animal gets the card.
How to Win: The player with the most matched cards wins!
Setup: Remove one of each animal card from the deck. You will now have two sets of identical cards. Place one set of cards facedown creating a draw pile. Spread the other set of cards faceup until they fill the playing area. Make sure no cards overlap.
Variations for Easier Play: An adult draws the cards and imitates each animal sound for younger kids. To add more structure to the game, you can give each player a single turn guessing what animal makes a particular sound.
How to Play: Decide who goes first. The player picks an animal card from the top of the pile and makes the animal’s sound without showing the card to others. For instance, if the player draws the lion card, they will say "Roar!" to imitate the lion's sound. Other players try to guess which animal is being imitated, and the first player to guess correctly gets to keep the card and take the matching animal card from the faceup spread. If no one guesses correctly, the card is returned to the bottom of the draw pile. The turn then passes to the next player on the left, who draws the next animal card and repeats the steps above. Play continues in this way until all pairs have been collected. Each player is allowed only one guess per turn, and the first player to correctly guess the animal gets the card.
Matching Game
In this game, children match an animal image to an identical animal image.
Targeted Skills: This game helps children develop memory, attention, visual recognition, and language skills.
How to Win: The player with the most matching pairs wins!
How to Play: Shuffle the deck and spread all the cards facedown until they fill the playing area. Make sure no cards overlap.
How to Play: Decide who goes first. Play proceeds in a clockwise direction. The first player turns over two cards and says the name of the animals and/or the sounds they make. If the cards are a matching pair, the player removes them from play and places the cards in a pile in front of them. A player’s turn continues until the two turned-over cards do not match. In this case, the two cards are turned back over, and the turn passes to the next player. Play continues until all cards have been matched.
Variations for Easier Play: Play with half of the game’s matched pairs. Also, try playing with the game cards facing up instead of down.
How to Win: The player with the most matching pairs wins!
How to Play: Shuffle the deck and spread all the cards facedown until they fill the playing area. Make sure no cards overlap.
How to Play: Decide who goes first. Play proceeds in a clockwise direction. The first player turns over two cards and says the name of the animals and/or the sounds they make. If the cards are a matching pair, the player removes them from play and places the cards in a pile in front of them. A player’s turn continues until the two turned-over cards do not match. In this case, the two cards are turned back over, and the turn passes to the next player. Play continues until all cards have been matched.
Variations for Easier Play: Play with half of the game’s matched pairs. Also, try playing with the game cards facing up instead of down.
Flash Cards
Use the game cards as flashcards to teach your child 22 animals commonly found in children's literature and their sounds.
Targeted Skills: This game helps a child learn to identify animals by their image, mimicked sound, and name.
Setup: You need one set of 22 individual animal cards. You can choose to use all the cards or a small number of cards to use based on the child's age and level of familiarity with the animals. Shuffle the deck and place the cards facedown creating a draw pile.
How to Play: To play, draw a card from the top of the pile and show it to your child, revealing the animal image and name. Your child should then try to identify the animal by making its sound and saying the name aloud, such as "Roar, Lion." If the child guesses correctly, they keep the card. If not, review the animal name and sound with your child and return the card to the bottom of the pile.
Setup: You need one set of 22 individual animal cards. You can choose to use all the cards or a small number of cards to use based on the child's age and level of familiarity with the animals. Shuffle the deck and place the cards facedown creating a draw pile.
How to Play: To play, draw a card from the top of the pile and show it to your child, revealing the animal image and name. Your child should then try to identify the animal by making its sound and saying the name aloud, such as "Roar, Lion." If the child guesses correctly, they keep the card. If not, review the animal name and sound with your child and return the card to the bottom of the pile.
Animal Charades
Animal Charades is a game where one person acts out an animal while the others guess what it is.
Targeted Skills: This game helps develop cognitive, creative, and nonverbal communication skills, and helps promote social skills, including interacting with others, turn-taking, and cooperative play.
How to Win: The player with the most cards wins!
Setup: You need one set of 22 individual animal cards. Shuffle the deck and place the cards facedown creating a draw pile.
How to Play: To begin, determine the first player and play in a clockwise direction. Each player takes a turn drawing a card from the top of the pile and silently acts out the animal on the card, while other players try to guess the animal being portrayed. Players have ten chances to guess the animal correctly, and if successful, they keep the card. If no one guesses correctly, the card goes back to the bottom of the draw pile. The game continues until all animal cards have been collected. Players can also play in teams if desired.
Variations for Easier Play: Remove any animal cards that you think will be too hard to act out. Also, consider laying out the unused animal cards faceup, so players can point to the animal they think is being acted out.
How to Win: The player with the most cards wins!
Setup: You need one set of 22 individual animal cards. Shuffle the deck and place the cards facedown creating a draw pile.
How to Play: To begin, determine the first player and play in a clockwise direction. Each player takes a turn drawing a card from the top of the pile and silently acts out the animal on the card, while other players try to guess the animal being portrayed. Players have ten chances to guess the animal correctly, and if successful, they keep the card. If no one guesses correctly, the card goes back to the bottom of the draw pile. The game continues until all animal cards have been collected. Players can also play in teams if desired.
Variations for Easier Play: Remove any animal cards that you think will be too hard to act out. Also, consider laying out the unused animal cards faceup, so players can point to the animal they think is being acted out.