Give your students animal vocabulary cards they can instantly relate to. No cutesy clipart, these 54 animal cards feature real life photos so young children will easily recognise and relate to them. This comprehensive set of animal picture cards is perfect for category sorting activities like picture sorts and can also be used as writing aids, for vocabulary work and in science lessons.

Save Time Searching for Authentic Animal Images

These carefully curated cards are print-and-go. I’ve done the searching for you and hand-picked, high-quality photo images across six different categories of animals. There are 9 familiar animals represented in each of the six categories

1. Farm animals

2. Zoo animals

3. Pets

4. Nocturnal animals

5. Garden animals

6. Dinosaurs

I’ve tested these cards with various age groups – from preschool to grade one. All you need to do is print them out, and you’ll have a set of illustrated animal flashcards you can use over and over with your students.

I've also included a heap of BONUS resources in your download to ensure you can use these cards across multiple learning activities.

I’m always looking for age-appropriate resources that have more than one use - aren’t you?

This Comprehensive Set of Animal Cards Contains:

• 54 labelled Animal Vocabulary Cards: I’ve designed them so you can easily cut off the labels if you want a set of just pictures. You have the option of large or small cards as well. The full set of 54 cards comes in 2 sizes so you can choose the size to best fit your teaching needs.

• 6 Sorting mats: There’s a sorting mat to represent each of the sorting categories: farm, zoo, pets, garden, nocturnal and dinosaurs.

• Ink-saving Sorting Mat Labels: Don’t want to print out the full-colour sorting mats? Use these labels to make a set of ink-friendly sorting mats. Just print the single page of blackline labels, cut off a label and glue it to the top of plain coloured card. You’ll have an instant category sorting mat.

• A Sorting Information Poster: This poster defines sorting as grouping objects based on their attributes. Use it to inform parents and other educators, to illustrate your learning intentions and as a visual reminder for students learning how to sort.

• 2 Sorting Learning Prompt Posters: These printable prompts make setting up a sorting learning invitation super easy.

• A Writing Learning Prompt Poster: These animal cards make the perfect writing stimulus for young students. Set up an engaging Writing Center using the printable writing prompt poster included in your download.

• 2 Student Recording Sheets for recording their sorting: Including a way for children to record their sorts will give you valuable evidence of learning. Use this information to inform your planning. (It comes in handy as an assessment piece too!) I’ve included 2 sizes of these sheets for you to choose from.

• 2 Styles of Writing Paper: Use the included animal-themed writing paper to build your students' literacy skills. They can use the labelled animal cards to prompt writing ideas for creative writing stories or for factual writing tasks about animals.

• Teacher Assessment Recording Sheet: I like to keep track of my students' progress. This recording sheet makes it easy. There’s a place to enter a sorting score and a space for short observational notes.

• Task Card Box Label and Document Wallet Label: If you keep your resources organised you are much more likely to use them. That’s why I included these storage labels. Ensure your resources are always at hand and organised. The animal picture cards can be kept in a task card box but if you want to keep all the printables together, I suggest storing them all in a document wallet. That’s what I do. I put the picture cards inside a clip-lock bag and stored in a clear document wallet with the posters and master copies of the assessment and recording sheets.

Increase Engagement and Learn About Animals

If you want to boost engagement, make your learning experiences hands-on and purposeful.

Use the extensive bundle of animal resources in this pack to create educational and interactive learning activities your students will love. These resources will bring learning about animals to life and help you teach numerous skills, from sorting and counting to categorisation skills and literacy.

These labelled animal vocabulary cards can be used for:

• Word walls – in science, literacy or speech

• Vocabulary work and discussion starters

• Phonological awareness – word awareness

• Spelling cards (hint: fold the labels to the back for self-correcting spelling practice)

• Card games like Memory, Go-fish or Snap

• Writing Centers – as story starters and vocabulary writing aids

• Math Activities – for sorting and counting

• Science – for categorising skills and learning about living things

These Real-Life Vocabulary Cards are for Picture Sorts and MORE!

With these Animal Vocabulary Cards, you'll be able to do so much more than picture sorts. Use them to support a variety of curriculum learning intentions.

✔ Develop vocabulary with the real-life animal images on these cards. They will help students expand their vocabulary and improve word recognition.

✔ Use the sorting mats and matching animal cards to practice categorisation and classification skills.

✔ These realistic animal cards make valuable tools for speech therapy as well. They are perfect for language development and articulation practice.

✔ They can also be used for phonological awareness activities to teach the concept of a word.

✔ Other literacy and writing skills can also be taught with these animal resources. The cards make great story starters and spelling aids.

✔ Support your math learning objectives by using these cards for sorting and counting exercises.

✔ You can also use these cards in science when you are learning about living things. This versatile resource provides opportunities for exploring different animal categories, and an introduction to various habitats and ecosystems.

Download these Animal Vocabulary Cards with Pictures, and you’ll have a resource you can use over and over – they are for so much more than just picture sorts!