Animals in English: Names, Pronunciation and Plurals for Kids

Practice on screen

Look at the picture or number and choose the right English word. Ten questions each round.

How to teach it

1. 1. Animal sounds and movements

   Name an animal and let the child move like it and make its sound: hop like a rabbit, stomp like an elephant, buzz like a bee. Then swap: the child chooses and you guess. Movement helps a young child remember the word and the idea.

2. 2. Farm, jungle or ocean sorting

   Draw three large areas on paper: farm, jungle and sea. Give the child animal picture cards to place in the right area. As each card is placed, say the name and a short sentence: "The cow lives on the farm."

3. 3. Guess the animal

   Give three clues in English: "It is big. It is gray. It has a long nose." The child guesses: "An elephant!" Then the child gives clues for you. This practices describing words and gives a reason to listen carefully.

4. 4. Plurals with toy animals

   Put one toy sheep on the table, then two, then three, and say each time: "One sheep. Two sheep." Do the same with a mouse and mice. Seeing the number change next to the word is a clear way to learn irregular plurals.

5. 5. Draw an animal and describe it

   Each child draws an animal and writes or says short sentences about it: "It is a frog. It is green. It can jump." Display the pictures and let the others guess before reading the sentences.

6. 6. Animal bingo with sounds

   Make bingo cards with animal pictures. Call out names or play the sound and let the children cover the picture. The first with a full row says "Bingo!" and names the animals. Use a small set of animals at first and add more.

Common mistakes

• Saying "mouses" instead of mice

  The plural of mouse is mice, not "mouses". Some animals change in other ways: one wolf, two wolves; one butterfly, two butterflies. Learn these as they come up and show them with toy animals.

• Adding -s to sheep, fish and deer

  Sheep and deer are the same in the plural: one sheep, two sheep; one deer, three deer. Fish is also usually the same: two fish. Learners often say "sheeps" and "deers", which are not correct.

• Using a instead of an

  Use an before a vowel sound: an elephant, an octopus, an ant. Use a before the rest: a dog, a zebra. Say the phrase with the animal each time, so the child hears the pattern.

• Writing animal names with a capital letter

  Animal names are common nouns, so they use a small letter in the middle of a sentence: "I see a dog." Not "I see a Dog." A pet's own name does take a capital: "My dog is called Max."

• Forgetting the verb after the animal

  Say "The cat is big", not "The cat big". English needs the verb to be between the animal and the describing word. Practice with a short pattern: "The lion is strong. The mouse is small."