This comprehensive animal worksheet is designed for beginner ESL students (A1-A2 level). Students will learn essential animal vocabulary, practice reading comprehension with an informative text about seals, and engage in interactive activities including gap-fill exercises and a fun drawing dictation game.

Perfect for: Young learners and elementary students discovering English animal names
Recommended for: Ages 6-12, CEFR Level A1-A2
Time needed: 45-60 minutes
Skills practiced: Vocabulary, reading, listening, speaking

A. Vocabulary 

1. Match pictures (A-F) with the correct words (1-6).

1. horse ____   
2. lion ____ 
3. fish ____ 
4. cow ____ 
5. dog   ____ 
6. elephant ____ 

2. Sort the animals in the picture. Add 2 more animals in each column.

FARM (farm animals)	HOUSE (pets)	WILD (wild animals)

B. Reading Comprehension 

Read the text, then answer the questions in exercises 1 and 2.

Seals 

Seals live in the Arctic and in Antarctica.

They are mammals just like people, whales, and bats!

Seals are very good swimmers and they swim with four flippers.

Seals eat a lot of meat, fish, shellfish, squid, and sea birds.

They have whiskers that help them find food.

Seals have fur coats so they can glide through the water and swim fast.

They have blubber under their skin. Blubber is the fat that keeps them warm when the weather is cold. Seals can sleep underwater.

1. Complete the sentence

1. Seals live in Antartica and in the _____________________________.
2. Bats and whales are _____________________________.
3. Seals find food with their _____________________________.
4. The fat under their skin is called _____________________________.
5. Seals can sleep _____________________________.
6. Seals swim with their _____________________________.

2. Answer the questions

1. What is seals’ favorite food? 

________________________________________________________________

2. Are seals good swimmers?

________________________________________________________________

3. Is your teacher a mammal?

________________________________________________________________

4. What have seals got to glide through water?

________________________________________________________________

5. Can seals find food with their whiskers?

________________________________________________________________

6. What keeps them warm when the weather is cold?

________________________________________________________________

C. Gap Text

Put the correct word from the table in the gaps (1-6) 

home	kind
dogs or cats	Tarantula spiders
time	snakes

Pets are animals that live in people’s (1) ____________________. There are many kinds of pets. People usually have (2) ____________________ as pets, but some people keep wild animals like (3) _________ or (4) ___________!  Many people don’t have a pet because they don’t have (5) ____________ to take care of them. Pets have need and emotions, just like people, so you have to be (6) ____________ to them and treat them like friends.

D. Drawing dictation (Guess the Arctic animal)

Listen to your teacher’s dictation and draw the Arctic animal. Then pick an Artic animal and dictate it to your class (describe it with the sentences below but keep it secret). The winner is the one who will guess the animal before they finish the drawing.

• It has got four flippers…
• It has got a big head and fur…
• It can’t swim…
• It can fly…

ARCTIC ANIMALS

polar bear

walrus

reindeer

penguin

Arctic hare

seal

Arctic fox