The Animal Sounds Game is a fun icebreaker game suited for children age 6 and older. It is a silly game that involves lots of noises and animal sounds, so it’s best suited for younger children.
Features of Animal Sounds Game
| ★ Game Name | Animal Sounds |
| ★ Group size | medium to large |
| ★ Age | kids and/or adults |
| ★ Type | active |
| ★ Skill | vocal/acting |
| ★ Place | indoor and outdoor |
| ★ Time | up to 10 – 15 min |
| ★ Preparation | yes |
| ★ Materials | paper and pen |
Aim of the Game
Correctly find your animal partner through sound alone! You need to make the noise belonging to your animal outloud and search for your animal partner while blindfolded. Correctly pair up quickly and you win a point!
Group Size
The Animal Sounds game is ideally suited to groups of 10+ people. Because everyone needs to partner up, it is also best for groups of even numbers so that no one is left out.
Children age 6 will love this game but avoid playing it with much older children and the silliness from making animal sounds out loud can embarrass older kids. However, because of that, it can be hilarious to play for adults in friendly companies
Preparation and Materials
There are only a few bits of equipment needed to play this game which should be readily available:
- Slips of paper
- A pen or pencil
- Blindfolds – optional
Before you start the game, you need to have prepared the slips of paper that you’ll be handing out to the kids. On each piece of paper write down an animal such as a cow, lion, or monkey. Make sure you write each animal down on two separate sheets of paper so that each player has a partner to find.
How to Play Animal Sounds
Hand out a slip of paper with an animal written on to each player, making sure that their duplicate has also been handed out to someone. Tell the kids that their animal has to be kept a secret. Get all the kids to then close their eyes or put their blindfolds on if you are using these.
All players then have to make the sound of the animal they have been allocated and have to find their partner by listening to the sounds. The kids are not allowed to look or talk at all and can only find their match by listening for and making their animal noises.
As players partner up, check their slips of paper to check they have paired up correctly. If they are with the wrong partner, tell them to keep looking. If they have managed to get into the correct pair, then the players move away from the game area to make it easier for the remaining players. The three pairs who find their partners the quickest all win a point. The player with the most points at the end wins!
Alternative Variations
To make the game more exciting, you can:
- Give the players exotic and unusual animal noises. The stranger the animal calls, the more difficult and fun the game becomes!
- Make the game more relaxed by removing the points system and just get the kids to partner up for fun
This is one of the best group games for kids that don’t know each other too well. By being so silly in front of each other, they soon forget to be shy and start becoming best friends!