Endangered Animals Games

Due to a number of factors, including deforestation, poaching and environmental changes, many species of animals around the world have become endangered, meaning they are at risk of vanishing forever because the current numbers of that species are very low. Learning about different species of endangered animals raises awareness of this risk. One way to raise awareness for children and adults alike is by playing games revolving around endangered species.

  1. Memory

    • One easy game to make is memory. Find images of different endangered animals and print them out. Place the images onto small pieces of cardboard or index cards. You will need two images of each animal with a minimum of 10 animals. Once you have your memory pieces, mix them all up and place them face down. Players take turns turning over two pieces and trying to find matches. The player with the most matches wins.

    Bingo

    • Instead of using a traditional Bingo card, you can make your own using endangered animals. Draw a grid on a piece of paper that is five blocks across and five blocks down. Mark the center block as a free square. Then you can either write the name of endangered animals into the squares or draw their pictures. The game is played like classic bingo with each player having a card with a different order of animals. A caller can either call out the names of different endangered animals or provide a clue to what the animals is. For example, for a Carolina northern flying squirrel you could say this mammal from a southern state sails through the air and is often seen as Bullwinkle's side kick. The first player to match five endangered animals either across or down their board wins.

    Charades

    • Charades is a guessing game where players take turns acting out a word or word phrase and their teammates try to guess it. In endangered animals charades, you can write down a number of different animals that are on the endangered species list on separate pieces of paper and then place them in a bag. Teams take turns pulling out animals and acting out the animal. Their team tries to guess which animal they are. Traditional charades is done without sound. In this version, you can use animal noises to help convey the endangered species but spoken words should be avoided. For example, if you were acting out a Bengal tiger, you may crawl around on all fours, make clawing motions with your hands and roar. Your teammates would yell out their guesses until they guess correctly.

    Poacher Says

    • Since poaching is a big threat to animal populations, stopping poaching helps save the animals. All the players, except one, will be the endangered animals. The remaining player will be a poacher. The goal of the game is for the animals to reach the finish line. Play a game of Simon Says where the animals have to move from a starting line to a finish line moving only as the poacher directs. The poacher will call out orders on ways to move and if he does not say "Poacher says" before his command, then the animals cannot move that way. If the animals mess up they have to go back to the beginning. If they can reach the finish line, they win. Have the poacher use commands like slither like a snake, elephant walk or hop like a kangaroo.