Animal Memory Game — Activities (Year 1)

Can you remember where the zebra was hiding? This animal memory matching game challenges pupils to pair up 18 different animals while naming each one as they go.

Animal Memory Game for Year 1 Science

Pupils turn over cards to find matching pairs from a set of 18 animals — including lion, tiger, elephant, giraffe, zebra, crocodile and dolphin — reinforcing animal names and visual memory as they play. The game offers Easy, Medium and Hard difficulty levels, so it can stretch from a small number of pairs for younger or less confident players up to the full set of 18 for a real challenge, and tracks moves, pairs found, time taken and score so pupils can try to beat their own best result.

What’s Included

• 18-pair animal memory matching game
• Easy, Medium and Hard difficulty levels
• Animals including lion, tiger, elephant, giraffe, zebra and dolphin
• Live tracking of moves, pairs, time and score
• Sound effects and celebratory animations for matches

Key Benefits for Students

• Builds animal name recognition through repeated, playful exposure
• Strengthens visual memory and concentration
• Three difficulty levels suit a wide range of confidence and pace
• A score to beat encourages replaying and improving

Why Teachers Love It

• No prep — ready to play on any device with a click
• A short, self-contained activity for a transition or reward slot
• Easy to differentiate by choosing the difficulty level
• Suits independent play, pairs or a whole-class turn-taking game
• A dependable addition to a Year 1 animals topic

Love this? You’ll love…

• What Do Animals Eat? — Interactive Lesson (KS1)
• Woodland and Ocean Habitats — Interactive Lesson (KS1)
• What Are Reptiles? — Interactive Lesson (KS1)

A dependable, playful addition to a Year 1 animals topic, turning animal name recognition into a game pupils will happily replay. The three difficulty levels make it easy to use with the whole class, whatever their starting confidence.

Bring animal names to life — Add to Basket.

FAQs

What year group is this for?
Year 1 (ages 5–6), also suitable for EYFS.

Can the difficulty be changed?
Yes — Easy, Medium and Hard levels are all built in.

Does it need to be printed?
No — it’s a fully interactive, on-screen game.