COLLECTIVE ANIMAL NAMES

Friday, March 6, 2020

COLLECTIVE ANIMAL NAMES

These collective names for animals tickle me for some reason. I mean, whoever came up with calling a group of giraffes a TOWER? And how about owls being named a PARLIAMENT? Certainly a CRASH of rhinoceroses is descriptive in a funny way.

It’s interesting that some of these animals don’t even live in groups, yet there is a “collective noun” for them.

I’m always looking for something unique and different to share with you, and that’s why I decided to do this blog.

How could you use these?

*Play a guessing game. Put up pictures of the animals and challenge children to identify which collective name goes with each animal.

*Choose one word each day and introduce it to your class. Do they think it is a good name? Why? Why not?

*Let children look for these animals online and do a little research. Where does the animal live? What does the animal eat?

*Give each child a different animal to illustrate. Put these together to make a class book.

There are many lists of animal names, but here are a few of my favorite collective names. What's your favorite descriptive word?

• Bats: a colony

• Bees: a swarm

• Camels: a caravan

• Cats: a clowder and Kittens a litter or a kindle

• Crows: a murder

• Dogs: a pack and Puppies a litter

• Elephants: a parade