How to play
- Tap Tap to start. Sounds can only play after a tap, so nothing makes a noise before then.
- Listen to the sound and tap the animal that makes it. Tap the big speaker to hear it again. Every animal you tap says its name.
A round has ten sounds, and each animal found on the first try earns a star. If it isn’t right, the animal tapped says its name, the sound plays again, and your child tries another. There’s no timer and nothing to lose.
Choose a level to suit your child:
- Easy: three farm animals and pets to choose from.
- Normal: four animals from the farm, the wild and the sky.
- Tricky: six animals, with ones that sound alike side by side: the sheep and the goat, the chicken and the rooster, the crow and the songbird.
Gentle sounds, off to start with, leaves out the lion, the wolf and the elephant, whose sounds can startle small children.
For parents and teachers
Animal Sounds is a listening game. Your child hears a sound with nothing to look at, matches it to one of a few pictures, and hears the animal’s name each time they tap. Explore Animal Sounds is for the youngest, or for a first look: every animal is there to tap, with no question to answer. The quiz comes next, at whichever level feels comfortable.
No reading is needed. The pictures are big and every tap says the animal’s name, so a child who can’t read yet can play on their own, and a grown-up can join in by naming the animals together.
The sounds are real animals, not people imitating them. Each one is cut to a few seconds, faded in and out, and evened out so that every sound plays at the same volume: no sound is much louder than the one before. Even so, with headphones keep the volume low.
Where the sounds come from
Every recording is either released into the public domain by the person who made it or made by the US National Park Service, and each one is listed with its source on the credits page. Two of them are worth knowing about: the “seal” bark most children know is really a sea lion’s, so the game has a sea lion; and the snake is a rattlesnake, because a real snake’s hiss is very hard to record.
Questions
Why can’t I hear anything?
Tap Tap to start first: browsers don’t allow sound until a tap. Then check the volume. On an iPhone, the silent switch on the side can mute the game in some browsers: flip it, or turn the volume up.
Which level should my child start at?
Explore all the animals for a first go, then Easy. If a round of Easy is easy, try Normal; Tricky is for children who know the animals well. Each level keeps its own best round.
What does Gentle sounds do?
It leaves out the three loudest, deepest sounds, the lion’s roar, the wolf’s howl and the elephant’s trumpet, on the Explore page and at every level: one setting covers both. It’s off to start with; switch it on if those sounds startle your child.
Can a child who can’t see the screen play?
Yes. The question is the sound, and every picture has its animal’s name for screen readers, so the quiz can be played by ear. The game can’t be played without hearing, but the Explore page still shows every animal with its name.
Is it safe for children?
Animal Sounds has no ads, no chat, no sign-up and no tracking. Nothing your child does is sent anywhere: the best rounds, the statistics and the settings are kept only in this browser. The animals’ names are said by the device’s own voice, never by an online service.
Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes, with a tap. On a computer, the keyboard works too.
The animal games
Five games with the same real animal sounds and pictures. The youngest can start with Explore, then Animal Sounds and Animal Names; Read It and Animal Words are for children who are starting to read.
- Explore Animal Sounds: tap any animal to hear its sound and its name. It practises listening, with no question to answer.
- Animal Sounds (this page): hear a sound, tap the animal. It practises listening: knowing an animal by its sound.
- Animal Names: hear a name, tap the animal. It practises vocabulary: the names of animals.
- Animal Sounds: Read It: hear a sound, tap the animal’s written name. It practises listening and reading.
- Animal Words: hear a name, tap the written word. It practises reading: recognizing a word.
Keyboard
| 1 to 6 | Choose that animal |
|---|---|
| R | Play the sound again |
| Enter | Go to the next sound |
| Tab | Move between the animals, then Enter to tap one |
More to play
- Block Adder: Drop number blocks and make 10. Pairs like 3 and 7 disappear.
- Hangman: Guess the word one letter at a time before the balloons pop.
- Tell the Time: Read the clock and set the hands: o’clock, half past, quarter to and every minute.
- Animal Names: Hear an animal’s name and tap its picture.
- Animal Sounds: Read It: Hear an animal’s sound and tap its written name.
- Animal Words: Hear an animal’s name and tap the word.
- All kids games