There’s a particular kind of chaos that comes with growing up around animals. The mornings that don’t quite let you sleep in, the smells you never forget, the small creatures that somehow become part of the family. Whether you grew up on a farm yourself, visited one as a child, or simply love the idea of it, farm animals have a way of staying with us.
Animali della fattoria brings together some of the Italian words for the animals you’d find wandering around a farmyard, from the ones that wake you up at dawn to the ones that just quietly get on with things.
This time, though, they’re a little scrambled. Little by little, the jumbled letters begin to make sense, until an Italian word appears.
Download the word scramble below. You can choose between an easier version, with a few letters already in place, or a more challenging one with no hints at all. Each scrambled word comes with a clue to help you along, and if you get stuck, you can reveal the Italian solution and its English translation further down the page.
Divertiti! 😊
Only peek if you get stuck!
Each scrambled word comes with a clue to help you along. If you still need a little help, you can reveal the Italian solution and its English translation, one at a time.
A large farm animal that gives us milk.
Loves rolling in the mud and gives us salame and prosciutto.
Crows at dawn, whether you're ready to wake up or not.
Clucks around the yard and lays your breakfast eggs.
Famously stubborn, with a bray you can hear from far away.
A large farm bird with an impressive fan-shaped tail.
Strong, swift, and happiest when galloping free.
Long ears, a twitchy nose, and always hopping about.
A young, woolly one, often seen bouncing through spring fields.
Waddles on land, glides on water, and loves a good quack.
Bigger and louder than a duck, and never shy about hissing.
Man's best friend, always ready for a walk or a cuddle.
The smallest piglet 🐷
When I was a child, one of my nonno's pigs gave birth to thirteen piglets. The problem was, she only had twelve nipples.
I couldn't understand why the piglets didn't simply take turns, so I asked my nonno. He explained that each piglet chooses one nipple soon after birth and keeps returning to that same one every time it feeds. The unlucky thirteenth piglet was simply too small to compete, and day by day it grew weaker. It broke my heart to see the mother feeding all twelve piglets while the little one was left on the side, unable to get a turn.
Seeing how upset I was, my nonno handed me a baby's feeding bottle and suggested I look after the little one.
I absolutely loved it. Every day I'd pick him up, hold him in my arms and feed him by hand, far more excited about that than I ever was about playing with dolls. Little by little, he grew strong enough to keep up with the others.
Whenever I see a pig, whether in real life, on television or even in a magazine, that's still the first memory that comes to mind.
If you'd like to test your ear as well as your spelling, you might enjoy my online word match I versi degli animali, which matches each animal to the sound it makes in Italian.
