Loading the tool…
What you can choose
- Animal groups: mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and insects and spiders.
- Where they live or how we know them: sea life, Canadian animals, pets and farm animals.
- Difficulty: easy animals are ones nearly everyone can draw or act (cat, frog, elephant). Medium ones need some thought (koala, walrus). Hard ones are less familiar or look like something else (axolotl, pika, narwhal).
Animals can belong to more than one group. The common loon is both a bird and a Canadian animal, and the beluga is a mammal, a sea animal and a Canadian one.
Animal games
Animal charades
Generate one easy or medium animal and show it to one player only. They act it out with no words and no sounds for the first 30 seconds. If nobody guesses, they can add sounds. A correct guess in the silent part is worth two points, after that it is worth one.
Draw the animal
Each player generates the same number of animals, then draws them one by one while the group guesses. Use the hard setting for experienced artists so the game stays fair.
Who am I?
Generate one animal per player and stick the name on their back or forehead without them seeing it. Players ask yes or no questions, such as "Do I live in water?" or "Do I have feathers?", until they work out what they are.
Habitat sort
Generate 12 animals and sort them by where they live: ocean, fresh water, forest, grassland, Arctic or a home. It works as a quick science check and often starts a good discussion.
Canadian wildlife
Choose "Canadian animals" to explore wildlife found across the country. Several of the birds come with their provincial or territorial bird listed, which makes a fun quiz: show the bird and ask which province or territory chose it. If geography is your thing, try the Canada provinces quiz next.
Classroom ideas
- Research cards: each student gets one random animal and finds what it eats, where it lives and one surprising fact.
- Mammal or not: generate a mixed list and decide which are mammals. Whales, bats and platypuses usually spark questions.
- Alphabet zoo: try to collect an animal for as many letters as you can. The random letter generator can choose which letter to hunt for next.
- Creative writing: pair a random animal with a random place from the random noun generator and write a short story.
Animal names make good word puzzles too. Many of them, like moose, otter and eagle, are also fair game in Unlimited Canuckle.