30 ANIMAL IDIOMS - LEARNING OBJECTIVES, SEASONALITY, & AGE RANGE FAQs

WHAT ARE THE LEARNING OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES OF THIS RESOURCE?

This list provides children and students with a resource they can repeatedly refer to when they want suggestions for an animal idiom to use in their writing, especially when they are writing dialogue. Compare the following sentences:

• "I think that really irritated her," he confessed.
• "I think that really got her goat," he confessed.

The idiom in the second sentence makes the dialogue more conversational, bringing a bit more life and immediacy to the line.

By providing children and students with a selection of 30, this list should make it easier for children and students to incorporate idioms more regularly in their work, experiment with them, and help them become more comfortable with incorporating figurative language in their work.

IS THIS AN EVERGREEN OR SEASONAL RESOURCE?

Yes, this is an evergreen resource which can be used at any point in the school year.

CAN YOU PROVIDE FURTHER GUIDANCE REGARDING AGE RANGE & SUITABILITY?

The years and ages listed above are intended as recommendations only; please feel free to use this resource in any educational context that suits your needs.

30 ANIMAL IDIOMS - USING THIS RESOURCE FAQs

ARE ALL THESE IDIOMS EQUALLY FORMAL OR INFORMAL?

No, the degrees of formality and informality of these idioms are not the same.

Some of them, like ‘to be as busy as a bee’ and ‘to weasel out’ are distinctly colloquial, while other, like ‘a bird's eye view’, ‘a paper tiger’, and ‘a cash cow’ sit comfortably in both formal and informal contexts, spoken and written.

While the following is not a hard and fast rule, some indication of how formal or informal an idiom is (or might be) can be gained from children or students asking themselves whether they would use a particular idiom with their friends or with their headteacher.

WHAT IS ‘A PAPER TIGER’?

This idiom, which has Chinese origins, may be one of the less familiar on the list.

The phrase refers to a person, or nation, or organization that appears to be extremely powerful, but is, in fact, weak and ineffectual.

The Oxford English Dictionary notes that the phrase’s earliest known use is in the 1830s.

Similar idioms include ‘a hollow threat’ and ‘to be all bark and no bite’.

I AM A PARENT: DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER USAGE SUGGESTIONS FOR ME?

As well as being a useful reference resources, the list also works well as a starting point of an extension activity.

Select an animal that features more than once, e.g. cats, and create a sub-list of all cat-related idioms.

Then, try to add more cat idioms to your list until you feel you have enough cat idioms.

Once you have done that, explore the similarities and differences between the idioms.

• Are the idioms positive, negative, or neutral?
• Are the idioms about people and their personalities, or their behaviour?
• Are the idioms about anything else?
• Do you have a favourite cat idiom? Why?
• Which is your least favourite cat idiom? Why?

Do these idioms relate to how we think of cats in any way?

Alternatively, ask your child to select their favourite idiom and then get them to come up with their own explanation for the phrase, or for the fable or fairy tale that gave rise to the idiom.

For example, an origin story for ‘copycat’ might involve a cat who imitated what his owner did all the time to the point where the cat became famous across the country and led to other cats doing the same until it became something that cats did, and so on.

ARE THESE IDIOMS USEFUL FOR 11+ PREPARATION?

Yes. Idioms commonly feature in 11+ tests as part of assessing candidates’ abilities to understand figurative language and its various uses, so being familiar with of idioms is an advantage for both verbal reasoning and English tests.

HOW DO I USE THIS RESOURCE AS A PRINTED RESOURCE?

Once printed, you could use this resource as a word mat that you keep visible during your child's or student's creative writing sessions. If they become stuck while writing dialogue, or if they arrive at point when they want to make their characters’ dialogue sound more realistic encourage them to choose an (appropriate) idiom from the list that conveys information less literally.

You may also wish to add this sheet to a ring binder or folder of word mats (if you already have one).

Alternatively, you might want to hang it on the wall as part of a word wall or learning wall display in your classroom or at home.

HOW DO I USE THIS RESOURCE AS A DIGITAL LEARNING AID?

There are several ways to use this PDF on a screen.

If your child or student types their stories on a computer, laptop, or tablet, they can keep the PDF open on one half of the screen as a permanent, digital word bank they can glance at when they need inspiration.

Save the PDF to a tablet or an iPad. Using any basic PDF reader, your child or student can highlight idioms they want to include in their work or cross off idioms as they use them.

If you are a teacher and want to use this resource in your classroom, consider projecting this PDF onto an interactive whiteboard during a creative writing lesson to use for whole-class brainstorming or group work.

Note: Given the vibrant nature of the full-colour version of this resource, it works particularly well in its digital format.