From the barn to your backyard, animals are an important part of everyday life. Learning the Spanish names for different kinds of animals will help your child identify wildlife, talk about their pets, and recognize the names of their favorite creatures in stories and movies.
To get your child excited about learning new vocabulary, we’ve put together a list of some of the most popular and important animals in the Spanish language, along with tips for helping your child retain what they’ve learned. Go wild and have fun learning names of animals in Spanish!
Go on a Language Learning Safari: Wild Animal Names in Spanish
Wild animals – Animales salvajes (ah-nee-mahl-es sahl-bah-hehs): It’s time to explore the jungle and the savannah! Two places that are super popular for safaris. Learning the names of wild animals will bring out your child’s inner explorer and come in handy next time you make a trip to the zoo.
You can even reinforce this vocabulary by reading the Spanish version of a children’s classic, The Jungle Book (El libro de la selva).
When working through this vocab with your child, encourage them to repeat after you and make the appropriate sound to fit each new animal they learn about. For example, when your child learns about el tigre ask them to get out their claws and let out a roar! This phonetic exercise will engage your child and help them remember what they’ve learned.
- Zebra – La cebra (seh-brah)
- Elephant – El elefante (eh-leh-fahn-teh)
- Lion – El león (leh-ohn)
- Tiger – El tigre (tee-greh)
- Giraffe – La jirafa (hee-rah-fah)
- Monkey – El mono (moh-noh)
- Panther – La pantera (pahn-teh-rah)
- Hippopotamus – El hipopótamo (ee-poh-poh-tah-moh)
- Rhinoceros – El rinoceronte (rre-noh-seh-rohn-teh)
- Buffalo – El búfalo (boo-fah-loh)
- Boar / Wild Boar – El jabalí (hah-bah-lee)
- Leopard – El leopardo (leh-oh-pahr-doh)
- Cheetah – El guepardo (geh-pahr-doh)
- Hyena – La hiena (yeh-nah)
- Lycaon – El licaón (lee-kah-on) / El perro salvaje africano (peh-rroh sahl-bah-heh ah-free-kah-noh)
- Meerkat – La suricata (suh-ree-kah-tah)
- Crocodile – El cocodrilo (koh-koh-dree-loh)
- Lizard – El lagarto (lah-gahr-toh)
- Stork – La cigüeña (see-gweh-nyah)
- Antelope – El antílope (ahn-tee-loh-peh)
- Jackal – El chacal (chah-kahl)
- Gazelle – La gacela (gah-seh-lah)
- Flamingo – El flamenco (flah-mehn-koh)
- Ostrich – El avestruz (ah-behs-troos)
- Toucan – El tucán (too-kahn)
- Toco toucan – El tucán toco (too-kahn toh-koh) (Pss, pss! This is the species of Zazu from the Lion King!)
- Pelican – El pelícano (peh-lee-kah-noh)
- Vulture – El buitre (bwee-treh)
- Falcon – El halcón (ahl-kohn)
- Eagle – El águila (ah-gee-lah)
Learning Activity: Kids love hands-on activities, so why not make some animal masks? For this activity, you’ll need a few simple materials such as paper plates, construction paper, colored markers, crayons, scissors, and glue.
- Use the paper plate as the face of your animal, and cut out different sized ears, noses, and eyes depending on the animal your child wants to become!
- Color in the plate with crayons and markers and add whatever stripes and spots your child desires.
- After the masks are done, write the Spanish name of the animal on the back of each plate and encourage your child to repeat the name back to you.
- Then, play like it’s the safari. Grab the mask of the animal you want to be. You can invite friends and family to join, so it’s a huge safari. A couple of you must be the explorers and the others the animals. The animals should act as their characters, so if you’re a monkey, jump around. Then, the explorers must identify each animal. For example: Point at someone and say “Look! There’s la hiena”. Everybody will learn!
Farm Animals in Spanish
Farm Animals – Animales de granja (ah-nee-mahl-es dey grahng-hah): Let’s take a trip to the farm! Learning farm animal names in Spanish will help your child feel more confident when speaking with their peers.
Does your child love to sing? “Old McDonald Had A Farm” or, as it’s also known, “El viejo MacDonald tenía una granja” is a great song to practice farm animal vocabulary!
This version on Youtube has subtitles in Spanish and English to help your child learn the proper spelling of each animal. To reinforce farm animal names further, print out the lyrics and have them by your side before singing the song.
- Pig – El cerdo (sehr-doh)
- Horse – El caballo– (kah-bah-yoh)
- Sheep – La oveja (oh-beh-hah)
- Cow – La vaca (bah-kah)
- Hen – La gallina (gah-yee-nah)
- Rooster – Gallo (gah-yoh)
- Chicken – El pollo (poh-yoh)
- Duck – El pato (pah-toh)
- Turkey – El pavo (pah-boh)
- Goose – El ganso (gahn-soh)
- Donkey – El burro (boo-rroh)
- Mule – La mula (moo-lah)
- Goat – La cabra (kah-brah)
- Lamb – El cordero (kohr-deh-roh)
- Calf – El ternero (tehr-neh-roh)
- Bull –El toro (toh-roh)
- Ox – El buey (bwehee)
- Horse – El caballo (kah-bah-yoh)
- Pony – El poni (poh-nee)
- Rabbit – El conejo (koh-neh-hoh)
Learning Activity: Mix and match pictures with animals! This activity is an easy and affordable way to learn about animal names and bring out your child’s creative side.
- Print or draw a picture of a farm animal, and write the animal name on a separate piece of paper.
- Encourage your child to match the name with the animal! This exercise will help your child spell and read the vocab they have learned.
- If your child isn’t confident reading, simply ask them to repeat the animal name back to you when you hold up the different cutouts.
Desert Animals in Spanish
Desert Animals – Animales de desierto (ah-nee-mahl-es dey deh-syehr-toh): Come on! Ready to go for a walk in the desert? Let’s drink tons of water, because these animals live in a wild hot place, like it’s summer every day. If kids learn desert animal names in Spanish, we bet they’ll impress their friends. Plus, they’ll learn about what they can find in one of the most popular habitats.
- Snake – La serpiente (sehr-pyehn-teh)
- Fox – El zorro (soh-rroh)
- Coyote – El coyote (koh-yoh-teh)
- Camel – El camello (kah-meh-yoh)
- Jackal – El chacal (chah-kahl)
- Kangaroo – El canguro (kahng-goo-roh)
- Ostrich – El avestruz (ah-behs-troos)
- Meerkat – La suricata (suh-ree-kah-tah)
- Rat – La rata (rrah-tah)
- Herbo – El jerbo (hehr-boh)
- Anteater – El oso hormiguero (oh-soh ohr-mee-geh-roh)
- Ant – La hormiga (ohr-mee-gah)
- Scorpion – El escorpión (ehs-kohr-pyohn)
- Beetle – El escarabajo (ehs-kah-rah-bah-hoh)
- Spider – La araña (ah-rah-nyah)
- Tarantula – La tarántula (tah-rahn-too-lah)
- Lizard – La lagartija (lah-gahr-tee-hah) / El lagarto (lah-gahr-toh)
- Roadrunner – El correcaminos (koh-rreh-kah-mee-nohs)
- Desert locust – La langosta del desierto (lahng-gohs-tah dehl deh-syehr-toh)
- Desert tortoise – La tortuga del desierto (tohr-too-gah dehl deh-syehr-toh)
Learning Activity: Play some desert Pictionary! Everybody will enjoy it and kids will not only learn the names of the animals, but also how they look.
- Invite all of your kids’ friends. If they’re from their Spanish language class, that’s awesome, because they all will strengthen their Spanish skills through the game.
- Write the names of the animals from the desert, all in different pieces of paper. Then, fold all the papers and put them in a bowl.
- Divide everybody in different teams. If there are many people, it’s okay, there can be more than two teams.
- One kid from one team has to grab one of the papers and proceed to draw whichever animal it’s written on the paper on a board.
- The team of this kid will have a couple of minutes to guess the animal. If they don’t get on time, they lose the point.
- Repeat the last step, but with another kid from another team. The team that guesses more animals is the winner.
Names for House Pets in Spanish
Pets – Mascotas (mahs-koh-tahs): Everybody loves a pet to call their own! Even if you don’t have a pet at home, next time you bring your child to a pet store, ask them to identify the different animals they see.
If you do have pets at home, walk around the house with your child and call out the different animal names of your mascotas!
Repeating the Spanish animal names for your pets will show your child how vocabulary can be useful in everyday life. Who knew home could be such a good place for learning?
- Dog – El perro (pehr-roh)
- Cat – El gato (gah-toh)
- Hamster – El hámster (hahms-tehr)
- Parrot – El loro (loh-roh)
- Snake – La serpiente (sehr-pyehn-teh)
- Lizard – La lagartija (lah-gahr-tee-hah)
- Rabbit – El conejo (koh-neh-hoh)
- Ferret – El hurón (ooh-rohn)
- Guinea pig – El cuyo (koo-yoh) / El cobaya (koh-bah-yah) / El conejillo de indias (koh-neh-hee-yoh deh een-dyahs)
- Turtle – La tortuga (tohr-too-gah)
- Fish – El pez (pehs)
- Rat – La rata (rrah-tah)
- Canary – El canario (kah-nah-ryoh)
- Chameleon – El camaleón (kah-mah-leh-ohn)
Learning Activity: Charades is a fun game that will get your child laughing, acting, and learning. Try playing charades with the Spanish animal names they have worked on.
- Get some pens, cut up a piece of paper into strips and write down Spanish animal names of each strip. You’ll want two teams, so get the whole family involved!
- Shuffle the paper strips in a bowl and have a member from each team choose one at random. The Spanish words written on the card will be the animal they have to act out!
- Give each team member 3 minutes to guess which animal is being acted. For every animal guessed correctly, the team will score a point. Play until the cards run out! This game will be so fun your child won’t even realize they are solidifying what they have learned.
*You can find many of the animal names pronunciation seen here on the ingles.com dictionary. In case you want to check the pronunciation of any other word not written on this blog.
TruFluencyKids Can Help You Learn Animal Names in Spanish and More
Animals are not only an important part of the world’s ecosystem but a crucial component of your child’s Spanish vocabulary! Start small by focusing on some of your child’s favorite animals, and add more names to the mix as they become more comfortable.
While home activities are fun, hiring a language tutor for your child will keep them motivated, focused, and engaged. At TruFluency Kids we offer small, teacher-led group classes of 3-6 students to ensure that your child gets the support and peer interaction they need. Start a LIVE instructor led class today!
If you prefer, you can first take a 30-minute trial class for only $9! These lessons are also taught by native Spanish teachers, and you’ll get to see how well we work. A huge benefit is that after the trial class, there will be a Q & A for parents, so you can ask all your questions. We know that you care and want you to know that so do we.
