Characteristics of Living Things
Pre-Activity – “Mystery Animal”
Grade
One
Objectives
Students will listen to the description of several animals’ characteristics and
respond appropriately with the image they think is the best representation of
the “mystery animal” based upon the clues given.
Outcomes
Materials
Introduction

Subject
Science
Time
Estimated
30 minutes

Identify, conduct, measure, and record observations about animals
and plants using appropriate terminology (201-5, 100-8, 203-2).
Listen and respond to another student’s description of an animal or
plant (203-4).


Animal picture and word cut-outs
Scissors
Begin the activity by having a class discussion about how every animal has
characteristics that are unique to them and how knowing what some of these
characteristics are can help us to identify the animal. A good example that
teachers could use would be, “I have wings and a red body with black
spots… what am I?” Answer: a ladybug.
This is also an opportunity to show how animals can share some
characteristics, while being very different in other ways.
Procedure
Inform students that they will be given clues based upon the characteristics
of a “mystery animal”. To avoid shouting out the answers, students could
hold up a picture of the animal that they think best represents the description
given by the teacher.
Teachers may have the animal cut-outs prepared by already having them
pre-cut OR teachers can pass out the animal pictures and words for
students to cut out themselves. Teachers may decide to create a class set of
the animal cut-outs OR to have students work in pairs or groups in order to
minimize the amount of paper used during this activity.
Another option teachers may find useful would be to have a large picture of
each animal cut-out on the board and have a designated color associated
with each animal. Students can participate by holding up an item or color
coded card that matches the animal that they think best represents the
description given by the teacher.
The teacher can start by giving a single characteristic and having students
vote on which animal they think it might be. The characteristic can be
common of many animals and students could decide how many of the
animals on the board fit that characteristic. Next, the group should narrow
down the mystery animal one characteristic at a time until they can guess
the correct one, writing down the characteristics on the white board as they
are mentioned. This can be done as statements from the teacher (the animal
has brown fur, a long tail, black spots, etc.) or, for a more student-centered
approach, questions from the students that gradually narrow down the field
of choices. After each new characteristic is considered, students vote for the
animal or animals that still fit the description.
Introduction examples (to get students familiar with the activity):
 Dog: “I have four legs, a tail that wags, big ears, and I bark. What
am I?”
 Cat: “I have four legs, whiskers, sharp claws, and I meow. What am
I?”
 Goldfish: “I have a tail, scaly skin, big eyes, and gills. What am I?”
The following are some characteristics that teachers can use for their
“mystery animal” clues:
Conclusion

Cow: Four legs, fur, long tail, long ears, hooves, black spots.

Bear: Four legs, short tail, long fur, sharp teeth, long snout, very
large.

Lobster: Hard shell, tail, more than four legs, claws, antennae,
breaths underwater, small eyes.

Bobcat: Four legs, thick fur, black spots, sharp claws, large ears,
sharp teeth.

Owl: Two legs, sharp claws, spotted feathers, big eyes, sharp beak,
wings.

Eagle: Two legs, dark feathers, wings, sharp claws, big eyes, sharp
beak.

Shark: Long tail, scaly skin, sharp teeth, breaths under water, no
legs, small eyes, big mouth.

Crocodile: Four legs, long tail, sharp teeth, scaly skin, small eyes,
big mouth.

Gecko: Small, four legs, scaly skin, tail, big eyes, long tongue,
clawed toes.

Butterfly: Small, more than four legs, wings, antennae, big eyes,
long “tongue”.
Have a class discussion about what other kinds of characteristics the
animals have that could have been good clues to include in this activity.