What is the goal of the game?
In this free online game, students act as nature detectives and identify which animal left each footprint. They examine tracks from animals such as the gorilla, the duck, the frog, and even a human. The game includes 3 challenges with 5 footprints each, and the goal is to match every track correctly.
Recommended age and educational level
Recommended for students ages 6 to 10, grades 1–4. Kindergarten students can also play with teacher support for reading the animal names.
How to play: single-player or multiplayer
This is a single-player game. Select Challenge 1, 2, or 3 and study each footprint. Drag the animal's name into the box next to its matching track. Students should look closely at the shape of the print and the toes or hand, then reason about which animal made it. When all matches are placed, the game shows which answers are correct or incorrect. Each challenge has a 1-minute time limit.
In the classroom, it works well on an interactive whiteboard, with students taking turns or teams competing for the most correct matches.
What do you learn from this game? Learning and skills
- Life science: students learn about animal tracks and connect physical features to different living things.
- Observation: students notice key details such as the number of toes and the shape of each print.
- Classification and matching: students associate a visual clue with the correct animal name.
- Reading and vocabulary: students read and reinforce animal names.
- Focus under time pressure: students practice working accurately within a time limit.
Tips to get the most out of this game
- Encourage students to count the toes before making a match.
- Ask them to think about how each animal moves: on feet, hands, or webbed feet?
- Play all 3 challenges to review every footprint.
- Offline extension: have students list the animals from the game and research each one's group: mammal, bird, amphibian, and so on.
- Make footprint prints with paint or modeling clay and compare them with the tracks in the game.