Learning about animals is one of everyone’s favorite lessons! Students love talking about their pets or favorite animals. And who doesn’t love looking at pictures of cute animals!? I’ve gathered my favorite animals Spanish lessons for all levels of learners from Novice through Intermediate/Advanced. From authentic texts to creative writing projects to brain breaks, I have 12 of the best animals Spanish lessons for ll of your learners. Keep reading… at the bottom of the post, you will see which activities are best for ANY language learner.
Novice Animal Spanish Lessons
#1 Which animal am I? Personality Quiz
Don’t we all love taking personality quizzes to find out which food we are, or which Friends character we are? What about finding out which animal you are?! Animals are known for their unique personalities and traits, as are each of our students! With this animals Spanish personality quiz, students will answer 10 novice questions about their personality and find out which of the six animals they are most like. Plus, there are great discussion questions and a group project for after taking the quiz!
#2 Wheel of animals
When I was teaching preschool Spanish over the summer at a Montessori school, I always taught an animal unit. The young kids absolutely loved imitating animals! I purchased this animal wheel at Flying Tiger in New York City. And I immediately knew it would be a hit! In summer camp, I would have a student spin the pin and wherever it landed they would tell me the name of the animal, or we would act out the animal sounds and movements together.
Now, I fortunately happened to stumble across this spinner, but you can even use a Digital Wheel and create your own free digital spinner. Here is a quick YouTube tutorial.
No matter if it is a real spinner or a digital spinner, students of all ages will be excited to see what the spinner lands on! They can act out the animal in a game of Gestures, describe it in the target language, or use it for picking project topics.
#3 De la cabeza a los pies
Eric Carle’s books are great authentic resources for teaching vocabulary. His book “From Head to Toe,” or in Spanish “De la cabeza a los pies ” was another favorite resource of mine with preschool and elementary students. But I could definitely use this book with novice middle school learners as well. My favorite part about children’s books in the world language classroom is the use of repetition. Our students need to hear phrases and sentence structure over and over again to acquire the vocabulary. With this book, your students will not only learn animal names, but some great phrases like “Claro que sí” and “puedes + verb.”
You can have your students act along with you as you read the story for some Total Physical Response (TPR) techniques, too! Since this book also ties in body parts it is easy to have students stand and stomp their feet like an elephant or turn their head like a penguin. TPR techniques associate movements with target language phrases. So, when students hear “piso muy fuerte,” they will stomp their feet. The connection between movement and language helps them to recall and recognize the terms over time.
#4 Oso pardo, oso pardo
Oso pardo oso pardo, ¿qué ves ahí? by Bill Martin, Jr. is another perfect story to use with novice students when introducing animals. Just like with “De la cabeza a los pies,” there is repetition of the same sentence structure over and over again. This makes it easy for students to read along with you. They can even guess what the next page will say! As a bonus, this story will teach colors, too!
#5 Prepositions
If you’re looking for listening or reading interpretive tasks to practice animals Spanish vocabulary, then this is a great activity. Practice prepositions by having students listen to or read sentences describing where each animal will go on a piece of paper.
Give each student an almost empty grid (just fill in one box with one animal.) I like to use a 4×4 grid, but you can use 3×3 as well. You will also need to prepare a list of sentences that describe where each animal is located on the grid. As you read the sentences aloud (or the students read them on paper,) they will draw the animal in the appropriate spot. They can also cut and paste images in the correct spot, as well. With this set, you get the worksheets already made, including fill-in-the-blank sentences to practice animal vocabulary and an info gap for interpersonal speaking activities as well. This download includes activities for all 3 modes of communication with animal vocabulary.
Intermediate Animal Spanish Lessons
#6 Endangered Animals Podcast
If you haven’t listened to Duolingo’s Spanish podcast yet, you need to give it a go. I absolutely love the creative stories they share from Spanish-speaking countries around the world. On Episode 66, they tell the story of Romeo, a Sehencuas water frog in danger of extinction. Romeo must find his Juliet in order to help repopulate the species. So, scientists made Romeo a dating profile on Match to bring awareness to the search for Juliet and raise funds for the research. It is a story of romance, science, and comprehensible input for intermediate language learners.
I used this podcast with Spanish 4 students during an endangered animal unit. We did pre-listening vocabulary activities, used a transcript, lots of images, and discussion questions to interpret the story. Then, my favorite part of all was having students design Match dating profiles for other animals in danger of extinction. The outcomes were absolutely adorable! Check out some of my favorite student examples below. Learn more about using podcasts in your classroom with these tips.
Get the entire Duolingo podcast lesson and project here!
#7 Endangered Animals Spanish Research Project
Unfortunately, there are many endangered animals just in Latin America alone. Have each student choose an animal from a Spanish-speaking country to research. They should draw a representation of the animal and be prepared to present its natural habitat, physical traits, food, why it is in danger of extinction, and any other interesting facts. Once they are finished with the research, divide the class in half. Half of the students will post their pictures around the room and stand next to them to share their findings with the other half who is walking around the “endangered animal museum,” learning facts about these creatures. Then, switch roles!
Your students can choose animals from any of these countries. I usually have small groups each watch one video and report to the class about the animals from their assigned country. Then, students have a great list of animals to choose from for their projects.
If you want to have students complete mini research projects on any Central or South American animal, check out these research posters, where students fill in the main information about animal habitats, physical descriptions, food, and more!
#8 #StopAnimalSelfies
Did you know that sloths are extremely anxious animals? We may think they are some of the cutest animals to inhabit South America. And you may have seen tourists taking selfies and posting them on Instagram with these little, adorable creatures. But did you know that this interaction with humans causes severe stress to sloths? They are illegally hunted and captured, and then taken to tourist sites, where companies allow tourists to pay to have take selfies with sloths. It is an extremely sad, unfortunate situation, but one that we can raise awareness for.
This topic is a great cultural lesson for our intermediate and advanced students to learn about sloths and the dangers of illegal hunting. Share authentic resources like this video showing the illegal hunting and capturing of the sloths. Here are two articles from El Pais and CNN Español detailing the detrimental effects on the physical and mental health of the sloths.
Your students can bring awareness to this campaign by creating posters or video PSAs outlining the dangers of animal selfies. Another fun option is to have students create their own Instagram account for a sloth sanctuary, where they promote #stopanimalselfies and give tips for safe ecotourism in Latin America. Grab a free Instagram template here!
Any Level Animal Spanish Lessons
#9 Readings about Central and South American Animals
If you’re looking for some non-fiction texts to introduce your Spanish learners to, this is the perfect time. You can create an entire unit with this set of readings about South America animals. Students will read about 12 different animals from Central and South America. The readings about animals in Spanish come in novice and intermediate levels. Each set comes with a 1 page reading, a set of comprehension questions, and an interactive notebook slide. Students will draw South America animals, keep track of information, read, and write in the target language! By the end of the unit, they will know all of the important facts about 12 of the most popular South American animals!
These readings are also great for free voluntary reading at the beginning of class! A fellow Spanish teacher shared this comment with me: “I added these readings to my classroom library for students who enjoy non-fiction, and they are the PERFECT length for a quick FVR at the beginning of class.”
#10 Taboo
Taboo is the perfect game for target language use and practicing circumlocution! Students will play the game in pairs. You will need to project one animal on the board or hold up a picture of the animal. One student from each pair will be facing you or the screen, and the other student will be facing the opposite direction. The student who sees the animal will then describe it to their partner. Novice level students may need to use gestures and sounds, and more advanced students can describe the animals’ physical traits or natural habitat. The students will guess which animal is being described, and then switch roles for the next one!
If you want to get your novice students to practice very basic circumlocution, then provide sentence starters like “Vive en…” or “Es + adjetivo” or “Tiene + noun”. That way they can describe at least the color and how many legs it has!
#11 Animal Yoga Brain Break
Everybody needs a brain break now and then. Young students tend to have so much energy that we need to find ways to keep them moving. And I’ve found that high schoolers often have the opposite problem. They don’t want to get out of their seats! But when they do, magic happens… suddenly they wake up and are re-energized. So, tie in a break break to your animal unit with animal yoga. Kids Yoga Stories has a long list of yoga poses relating to animals, and as a bonus, they all match the series of books like “Oso pardo” by Bill Martin, Jr.
#12 Frida Kahlo Self Portraits with Animals
And we all know which famous Hispanic also loved animals… Frida Kahlo! You can always find inspiration for teaching animals with Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits. You could post a bunch of her paintings around the classroom and have students go on a scavenger hunt counting and identifying all of the animals they see! For a more creative project, have your students draw their own self-portrait or take and digitally edit a selfie to include three animals that symbolize their personality, just like Frida! You can see some beautiful student artwork from my Spanish 3 classes below. Check out tons of Frida Kahlo lesson plans and projects here!
So no matter what level your Spanish students are, there are so many animals Spanish lessons to choose from! Every year, your students can learn about animals, starting with the basics of identifying them, to describing their habitat, to advocating for endangered animals!
