Pets for kids

What's here

Twelve animals that live where kids live: a puppy, a kitten, a bunny, a hamster, and the rest of the classroom-and-living-room lineup. Tap one and it pounces, wiggles, or does a happy dance, then shows a fact your toddler can verify against the real pet at grandma's house.

Pets are the animals toddlers actually touch, so the words here get reinforced by real life every single day. That's cheap repetition and it's why this theme sticks fast.

Meet these first

• Puppy. Wags his tail to show you he's happy to see you.
• Kitten. Can hear teeny-tiny sounds, even a mouse tiptoeing far away.
• Bunny. Her front teeth never, ever stop growing her whole life.
• Hamster. Stuffs his cheeks so full of food they puff out like little balloons.
• Guinea Pig. Squeaks a happy "wheek" when she knows a snack is coming.
• Goldfish. Never closes his eyes, not even fast asleep.
• Gecko. Sticky toes let him walk straight up a wall, even upside down.
• Ferret. Does a happy wiggly dance when he wants to play.
• Teddy. A Goldendoodle, half golden retriever and half poodle, which makes him bouncy, goofy, and impossibly fluffy. The deep cut of the set.

Mouse, canary, and parakeet complete the house.

How to play (60 seconds)

Copy the pets with your bodies: hop like the bunny, puff your cheeks like the hamster, do the ferret's happy dance. Then connect screen to world. If there's a pet in your house or on your street, tap its match and say the name twice, once for the screen one and once for the real one. That screen-to-real jump is where the word truly lands.

Good to know

Pet words are heavy hitters on early vocabulary lists because they name things a toddler sees, hears, and pets in real life. Every "wheek" and cheek-puff you copy together is playful talking practice, and the names follow the sounds soon enough.

Keep exploring

The free Starter Pack on the printables page includes first-words cards and a 50-word checklist, and dog, cat, and fish are usually among the first boxes families get to tick.

The puppy and kitten each have a whole extended family: dog breeds and cats. Farm animals covers pets' outdoor cousins, birds has the wild version of the canary's crew, and animal sounds makes a game of the noises. The rest is on the homepage.