Describing animals with verbs of senses games

Describing animals with verbs of senses games

Verbs of senses guess the animal game

Choose one of the animals below and give hints about its senses, appearance, texture, taste (if you eat it), etc until your partner guesses which one you chose. They can only guess once per hint. Your teacher will tell you if/ when you can use the suggested descriptions for each animal below to help.

Suggested descriptions of animals using verbs of senses

• From a distance/ From close up, it…
• If it sees/ smells/ hears…, it…
• If you eat it, …
• If you (can) see/ hear/ feel/ smell one,…
• In cartoons/ picture books, it looks/ sounds (like)…
• It can(’t) see/ taste/ smell/ hear/ feel…
• It can… sounds that are too… for humans to…
• It gets … if it hears/ sees/ smells/ feels…
• It is difficult to see/ hear (…) because/ if…
• It (doesn’t) look/ sound dangerous, but it is actually…
• It (doesn’t) look/ sound …, but it is actually…
• It looks/ sounds/ smells/ tastes/ feels (exactly/ a lot/ a little) like… (but…)
• It looks like it can(’t)… but it…
• It look like it has… but…
• It (often) looks/ sounds like it is …ing (…) (but…)
• It looks like it will feel… (but…)
• It smells/ tastes good/ bad.
• It smells/ tastes of/ like…
• It thinks that… tastes/ smells/ looks/ feels/ sounds…
• Its babies can(’t)…
• Its babies look/ sound/ feel/ taste/ smell (like)…
• Its bite/ sting…
• Its body/ face/ hands/ legs/ skin/ tail/ teeth/ tongue…
• Its cry/ song/ call/ voice…
• Its droppings/ pee…
• Its eggs/ milk…
• Its meat…
• Many of them together look/ sound/ smell/ feel…
• When it…, it looks/ smells/ sounds/ feels (like)…
• You can/ can’t (easily/ rarely) see it…

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Describing animals with verbs of senses brainstorming game

Choose an animal and take turns describing its appearance, smell, sound, taste, texture, etc until no one can think of more ideas. Then look at the description below and score one point for each thing you said that isn’t in those descriptions, but lose one point for each thing that is in the list which you didn’t say.

OR

Look at the descriptions below and see what similar true sentences you can add.

• Alligator/ Crocodile
• Bat
• Bear
• Beaver
• Bed bug
• Bee
• Cat
• Catfish
• Chameleon
• Chick/ Baby bird
• Chimpanzee
• Cicada
• Cockroach
• Cricket
• Dog
• Dolphin
• Dragonfly
• Duck
• Elephant
• Fly
• Frog
• Goat
• Hedgehog
• Hyena
• Koala
• Mosquito
• Moth
• Naked mole rat
• Owl
• Parrot
• Peacock
• Penguin
• Pig
• Pigeon
• Platypus
• Rabbit
• Seal/ Sealion
• Shark
• Skunk
• Snake
• Stinkbug
• Tiger
• Vulture
• Whale

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Alligator/ Crocodile

• It looks like a log floating in the water.
• It looks a bit like a dinosaur, but with shorter legs.
• It can’t see well.
• It can smell one drop of blood in 50 litres of water.

 

Bat

• It can’t see well, but it can fly in the dark.
• It makes a noise and listens for the echo.
• When it folds its wings, it looks like an umbrella.
• Some think that cow blood tastes good.

 

Bear

• It might enter your campsite or tent if is smells food.
• It thinks that honey tastes so great that it doesn’t mind if bees attack.
• Some can smell something 30 kilometres away.

 

Beaver

• It smells of vanilla, so can be used to make perfume.
• It thinks that wood tastes good.
• Its tail looks like an oar.
• Its teeth look like rabbit teeth.

 

Bed bug

• It smells of coriander, so if your bedroom smells like that you should buy a new mattress.
• If it bites you, the bite looks like only a small red mark, but it can feel really itchy.

 

Bee

• If it smells smoke, it gets sleepy.
• The food that it makes tastes really sweet.
• It sometimes smells lemony.
• If it is in danger, it releases a smell like bananas to call others to attack you.
• It can’t see red, but it can see UV.
• If it stings you, the sting looks like a red bump with white around it.
• It can taste with its legs.

 

Catfish

• It looks like it has whiskers.
• It can taste with its body (which helps when the water isn’t clear).
• Its flesh tastes mild and slightly sweet, like sole, haddock and flounder.

 

Chameleon

• It’s difficult to see because it changes colour.
• It can see in two directions at the same time, because its eyes can move separately.

Cat

• It can see well in the dark.
• It looks like a small lion.
• When it is angry, it sounds a bit like a snake.
• When it is happy, it sounds a little like a phone on vibrate mode.
• When it is fighting or courting, it sounds like a baby crying.
• Its tongue feels really rough.
• It’s difficult to hear its footsteps.
• Its pee smells really bad.
• It can’t taste sugar (but it doesn’t need to it, because it doesn’t eat fruit and vegetables).
• It can’t hear when it is born.
• It looks at birds flying outside the window.
• It feels happy if it feels someone stroking its fur.

 

Chick/ Baby bird

• Its body feels soft and fluffy, but its claws and beak are sharp.
• It sounds like someone has tweeted you on Twitter.

 

Chimpanzee

• When it looks like it is smiling, it is actually feeling scared.
• When it is laughing, it sounds like it is panting.
• It looks a bit like a small gorilla.
• Its hands look like hairy human hands.
• It doesn’t look dangerous, but it can be aggressive.
• Looking directly in its eyes can make it more aggressive.

 

Cicada

• If you hear one, you know that it is summer.
• It looks quite scary, but it doesn’t bite or sting.
• It tastes like peanuts or almonds.
• Its baby tastes like lobster or asparagus.

 

Cockroach

• It will come to your kitchen if it smells food such as rotting vegetables.
• It looks like a beetle, but is much more disgusting.
• It looks like it can’t fly, but it can.
• It tastes like greasy chicken.

 

Cricket

• Some people keep it in a cage so they can listen to it, because its call is so beautiful.
• It looks like a grasshopper or locust.
• It sounds like it is singing, but really it is rubbing its legs together.
• It can hear with its legs.
• If you eat it, it feels crunchy and tastes like parmesan cheese.

Dog

• It smells bad when it is wet.
• It smells the bottoms of other animals.
• Small ones often sound more aggressive than big ones.
• It can smell very well.
• Some can smell where people such as escape prisoners have been walking.
• Some howl if they hear a very high-pitched sound like a police siren.
• It gets excited if it hears its owner come home.
• Some can smell drugs, cancer and even coronavirus.
• It can hear very high sounds that we can’t hear.
• Looking in its eyes can make it more aggressive.
• Some like watching TV.
• It feels happy if it feels someone patting it.

 

Dolphin

• It sounds like someone clicking on their mouse.
• It looks like a fish, but isn’t.
• It can’t taste its food much (but it doesn’t matter, because it swallows its food whole).
• It can’t see colours.

 

Dragonfly

• From a distance it looks beautiful, but from close it looks like an alien.
• It sees through its 30,000 lenses.

 

Duck

• It looks funny when it is walking, but can swim and fly well.
• Its voice sounds a bit like someone laughing.
• Its egg looks like a chicken’s egg.
• It can see out of one eye while it is sleeping.

 

Elephant

• It can make and hear sounds that are too low for a human to hear.
• In cartoons, its call sounds like a trumpet.
• Males smell really bad during mating season.

 

Fly

• It can taste with its feet.
• It eats food that has started to go rotten and to smell bad.
• If it can smell banana skins, it will fly over there instead of annoying you.
• It can see through its 6,000 lenses.

 

Frog

• It sounds like it is saying “(I’ve) read it”.
• Its babies look like fish.
• Its meat tastes half like chicken and half like fish.
• Its skin feels slimy.

 

Goat

• Its milk tastes stronger than cow’s milk.
• It sounds like a sheep.
• Its fight sounds like someone hammering.
• The devil sometimes looks like one of these.

 

Hedgehog

• Its body looks like lots of pins.
• It is difficult to see in the wild because it is shy and only comes out at night.
• It looks like it can’t see well, and that is true.

 

Hyena

• It looks like a kind of dog.
• It looks really ugly.
• It sounds like it is laughing.
• It can’t taste sugar (perhaps because it only eats meat).

 

Koala

• It looks cute, but has sharp teeth and claws.
• It looks like a bear, but it is a marsupial like a kangaroo.

 

Mosquito

• It sounds like a small airplane buzzing around your ear.
• It stays away if it smells lemongrass.
• It thinks that your blood tastes great.
• Its bite doesn’t feel painful straightaway because it puts a painkiller into your skin.
• People feel itchy after it bites.

 

Moth

• It looks like a butterfly, but isn’t so beautiful.
• When it sees a light, it flies round and round it or straight into it.
• Some can smell another one 11 kilometres away.

 

Naked mole rat

• It looks really ugly.
• It can’t see.
• It can’t hear well.
• Humans rarely see it, because it lives underground.

 

Owl

• It can see well in the dark.
• It can look around 360 degrees without turning its body.

 

Parrot

• It looks really exotic and tropical.
• Some listen to humans and copy what they say.
• You can’t hear anything else when many are together because they are so noisy.

 

Peacock

• Its tail looks like a big fan.
• Its cry sounds like a baby crying.
• Its meat tastes like turkey.

 

Penguin

• It looks like it is wearing a suit.
• Its meat tastes horrible.
• When it walks, it looks like Charlie Chaplin.

 

Pig

• Its tail looks like a corkscrew.
• It sounds like someone snoring.
• Some can smell truffles underground.
• In cartoons it always looks dirty.

 

Pigeon

• You can probably see one outside this room.
• It looks like a dove, but doesn’t look so beautiful.
• It often looks diseased and/ or dirty.
• Buildings and statues look disgusting after it has been sitting on them.
• Because its eyes are on the side, it can see 340 degrees without moving its head.

 

Platypus

• Its nose looks like a duck’s.
• Its bite feels painful because it is poisonous.

 

Rabbit

• It often looks like it is smelling.
• Its meat tastes a bit like chicken.
• Its droppings look like raisins.

 

Seal/ Sealion

• It sounds like a car horn honking.
• It can’t taste sugar (but it doesn’t matter, because it’s a carnivore).
• It can only see one colour.
• It can see out of one eye while it is sleeping.

 

Shark

• It can smell blood from 400 metres away.
• It looks a bit like a dolphin, but it’s a fish.

 

Skunk

• It smells really bad when it is scared.
• You smell really bad if it sprays on you, and the spray smells for up to three weeks.

 

Snake

• It looks like it will feel cold and slimy, but it actually feels warm and dry.
• Its bite looks like two injections.
• Some bites feel painful, make you feel sick and/ or make you feel numb.
• Some can see infrared and so can sense body heat.
• You can’t see any ears on its body, but it can sense vibrations in the ground.
• It looks like it is licking the air, but it can’t taste with its tongue. Its tongue brings smells and tastes into it mouth.

 

Stinkbug

• It smells like a fart.
• If you ate it, it would taste like strong bitter cinnamon.
• Some look like turtles.

 

Tiger

• It looks like a big cat.
• It is difficult to see it if it is in long grass.
• It sounds like a lion.

 

Vulture

• It looks disgusting.
• It looks bald on the top of its head (but actually doesn’t have any hair anywhere).
• It looks dangerous, but it only eats animals which are already dead.
• It can see a dead animal from 7 kilometres away.

 

Whale

• It can hear a mate from 800 kilometres away.
• It can make and hear sounds which are too low for a human to hear.
• People listen to its call in their music.
• It can’t see colours.

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Describing animals with verbs of senses gapfill

Put one word into each gap below. More than one word may sometimes be possible.

Alligator/ Crocodile

• It looks ________________________________________ a log floating in the water.
• It looks _____________________________ bit like a dinosaur, but with shorter legs.
• It ________________________________ smell one drop of blood in 50 litres of water.

 

Bat

• It makes a noise and _______________________________________ for the echo.
• When it folds its wings, it _________________________________ like an umbrella.

 

Beaver

• It ________________________________ of vanilla, so can be used to make perfume.

 

Bed bug

• It smells _________________________________________________ coriander, so if your bedroom smells like that you should buy a new mattress.
• If it bites you, the bite looks like only a small red mark, but it can __________ really itchy.

 

Catfish

• Its flesh ________________ mild and slightly sweet, like sole, haddock and flounder.

 

Chameleon

• It’s difficult ________________________________ see because it changes colour.

 

Cat

• When it is angry, it sounds a _________________________________ like a snake.
• When it is fighting or courting, it ___________________________ like a baby crying.
• It’s difficult to ______________________________________________ its footsteps.
• It can’t _____________________________________ sugar (but it doesn’t need to it).
• It looks __________________________________ birds flying outside the window.

 

Chimpanzee

• It _______________________________ look dangerous, but it can be aggressive.

 

Cicada

• It tastes __________________________________________ peanuts or almonds.

 

Cricket

• Some people keep it in a cage so they can listen _________________________ it.

 

Dolphin

• It can’t ____________________________________________________ colours.

 

Use the mixed answers to help, then check above.

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Mixed answers

• a
• at
• bit
• can
• doesn’t
• feel
• hear
• like
• like
• listens
• looks
• of
• see
• smells
• sounds
• tastes
• to
• to

 

Verbs of senses presentation

What are the differences (in grammar and/ or meaning) between these words?

• look (at)/ see
• listen (to)/ hear
• listen (to)/ sound
• look/ look like
• It smells bad/ If it smells honey, it…