Zoo Food
Zoo Food Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 8 habitat cards (Lebensraum-Karten): Stable/Farm, Forest, Water/Lake, Meadow and Field
- 8 animals: horse, goat, rooster, wild boar, deer, duck, hedgehog and hare
- 24 food pieces: grain/seeds, hay, snails, worms, green grass/herbs, insects, turnips, fresh leaves, buds/young blossoms
- 1 cloth bag (Stoffbeutel)
Components and How to Read the Cards
Each habitat card has two punched-out holes.
- In the upper hole, place the animal that lives in that habitat.
- Below it you see three small pictures and one punched-out circle. The pictures show the food the animal likes to eat. Besides the pictured food, animals also like to eat other things. In the punched-out circle you may place three such food pieces.
Introductory Game
Matching game for 1 to 4 children from 3 years old.
Place the animals, the habitat cards and the food pieces in the middle of the table. Choose a habitat card and decide which player may fill the first card. Play then continues clockwise.
Look carefully at the habitat card. Which animal lives here? Place the animal in the punched-out hole. Now look at the food. What does the animal eat? Place the food pieces in the circle.
In turn, you fill all the habitat cards one after another with animals and food pieces. Of course you may help each other. The game ends as soon as you have filled all the habitat cards.
Note: The game can also be played alone. Take three habitat cards and place the matching animals in the holes. The food pieces go into the bag. Now draw the food pieces one after another and place them in the circles.
Parent note: Ask your child to talk while playing. For example: "This is the forest. The deer lives in the forest."
Game Idea 1: Guessing Game
Guessing game for 2 to 4 children from 3 years old.
Goal: Guess the animals correctly.
Preparation: Put all the animals into the cloth bag. Set the remaining contents aside.
How to play: The youngest player begins. Play then continues clockwise. Take an animal from the bag without the other children seeing it. Look at the animal carefully. Now you may choose an action with which to act out your animal:
- Make a sound! Example for the rooster: "Cock-a-doodle-doo"
- Move like the animal! Example for the hare: hop like a hare, or
- Describe it in words! Example for the hedgehog: "When there is danger, I roll myself into a ball."
The other children guess which animal is meant. If one of the children recognises the animal, you may keep it. The next player takes a turn. If nobody has guessed the animal, put it back into the bag. The next player takes a turn.
Note: The children can now try to find the matching habitats for their animals.
End of the game: The game ends as soon as the bag is empty. The child with the most animals wins.
Game Idea 2: Search Game
Search game for 2 to 4 children from 3 years old.
Goal: Supply the animals with the right food.
Preparation: Place the animals in their habitats and place the habitats in the middle of the table. Put the food pieces into the bag.
How to play: The youngest player begins. Play then continues clockwise. On your turn, draw a food piece from the bag and say aloud which food you see on it. Look carefully at the animals in the habitats. Which animal eats this food?
If you have found a matching animal, name it and place the food piece in its circle. The other children must of course watch whether you have given the animal the right food. When an animal has received all the food pieces shown on its card, it is full and content. It stays with the child who fed it the last treat until the end of the game.
End of the game: The game ends as soon as no food piece is left in the bag. The player with the most animals wins the game.
Expert Memo (from 4 years old)
Assign the animals to the habitats and divide them evenly among the players. Any left over are set aside. Put the matching food pieces face down in the middle of the table and mix them. Whoever is on turn turns over one food piece. Does it match one of your animals? Then you feed that animal. Otherwise the food piece goes back face down into the middle. The player who first has fed all of their animals wins.