Learn how animal life cycles work by helping a frog, butterfly, robin and rabbit grow, from egg or birth to adult, one hands-on stage at a time.
Animal Life Cycles is an interactive game that teaches children aged 8–11 how mammals, amphibians, insects and birds grow and change. It follows the Year 5 science topic of comparing life cycles.
Guided by Bramble the hedgehog, players make each stage happen: they tap to lay frogspawn, drag the sun across the sky to pass time, feed algae to tadpoles and leaves to a caterpillar, build a robin's nest and keep the eggs warm. Along the way they meet key terms such as metamorphosis, larva, pupa, incubation, gestation and fledgling, each explained in one short line.
A life-cycle strip fills in as every stage is reached, and a round-up asks players to compare the four animals. Instructions are read aloud, and the game works with touch, mouse or keyboard.
A frog's life cycle goes from frogspawn to tadpole, then tadpole with legs, froglet and adult frog. The big change from a tadpole that breathes with gills to a frog with lungs is called metamorphosis.
A caterpillar eats, grows and sheds its skin several times, then forms a hard case called a chrysalis, or pupa. Inside, its body is rebuilt, and an adult butterfly pushes its way out and pumps its wings open.
Most mammal babies grow inside their mother and are born alive, then drink her milk. Bird babies grow inside hard-shelled eggs that a parent keeps warm, which is called incubation, before hatching as chicks.
It is designed for children aged 8 to 11 and matches the Year 5 science topic on life cycles. Instructions are short and read aloud, so younger children can also play with a little help.
It has four guided chapters, for a frog, a butterfly, a robin and a rabbit, plus a round-up that compares them. Playing everything takes about 25 minutes, and each chapter can be played on its own.
TapLearnGetting it ready…
Great work on chapter 1! To open the next chapters, ask a grown-up to take a look.
To play this game, ask a grown-up to take a look. There are lots of free games you can play right now too!
Create a free family account and your child can play every chapter of every game for 7 days, with no card needed. Their progress is kept. After that, the free plan is free for ever, and membership is £6.99 a month if you'd like to keep every chapter.
That's all the learning time for today. Great work! Flip will be ready to play again tomorrow.