Day 235: Animalogy - Animal Analogies

When I was a kid, my dad used to play an analogies game with me while we were driving in the car. He'd start the analogy, and I'd have to complete it, figuring out the relationship between whatever pairs he threw my way. I absolutely loved it, though how my dad managed to think up so many analogies on his own is beyond me. As I got older, of course, analogies were just a thing to learn for the SAT, but I was excited to find this book at the library a few weeks back. My kids are all about animals and love solving puzzles, so to me, this book seemed like the perfect way to introduce them to analogies. We also love some of Marianne Berkes' other works (especially Over in the Jungle and Over in the Ocean), so I was confident this book would fun and much enjoyed.

As you can guess, Animalogy's analogies all have to do with animals, and my kids loved it -- especially my 6 year old son. Here are a few examples:

"Bat is to flit as eagle is to soar.

Dog is to bark as lion is to roar.

Robin is to wing as goldfish is to fin.

Beaver is to build as spider is to spin.

Amphibian is to frog as mammal is to moose.

Fish is to flounder as bird is to goose."

See what I mean?  The comparisons are simple, yet offer a perfect introduction to analogies. My son loved trying to figure out the relationship between the two things (the bridge, as it's sometimes called), and immediately asked to "play some more" when we were done reading.  I came up with as many others as I could think of (though mine didn't rhyme!), and he did, too:

Bear is to den as bird is to ________ (nest)

Cygnet is to swan as gosling is to ___________ (goose)

Lion is to pride as jellyfish is to __________ (smack) -- that's one of our favorite 

names for a group of animals!

There's a fabulous section at the end of the book called "For Creative Minds," which offers all kinds of other ways to apply the thinking necessary for solving analogies.  Even grammar comes in to play, challenging readers to think about other verbs, adjectives, and synonyms they might be able to use when it comes to animal analogies. For example, "Which of these analogies uses action words (verbs) to compare what the animals are doing?", and "Which of these analogies uses skin coverings to compare or contrast the two animals?"  There is even a section on animal classification. So great!! I absolutely LOVE Berkes' additional educational activities at the back of the book, and think this would make a fabulous addition to any classroom library. In fact, I might need to get a copy of this book for my son's first grade teacher this year. 

Now that I've gotten around to featuring this fun, educational book, I suppose I can return it to the library and pay off my overdue fines.  We highly encourage you to check it out, enjoy solving the "Animalogies," and then come up with some of your own!