39 Coral Reef Animals Photographed for a Kinder Card Game: "Go Snorkel!"

“Go Snorkel!” is played in a group just like another fish-related card game you might remember from your childhood. With a kind twist, instead of fishing for and “having” animals, the players become snorkelers peering through their goggles to discover some of the amazingly diverse creatures who live in our world’s coral reefs. “Have you seen a unicornfish?”…“Nope, go snorkel!” Our hope is that one day, they will.

The cards feature pictures from NOAA’s researchers and their Photo Library, which are in the public domain, and from Pexels contributors who have marked their work as “free to use.” We have listed the credits for each one as a way to express our sincere gratitude toward these photographers and their underwater equipment and expertise. Their photos are the only way many of us will ever catch a glimpse of some of these animals, and of course, they made this game possible!

This free packet includes helpful tips on how to print the cards, an instruction sheet for kids, a decorative back for the card deck, and 39 pairs of goggle cards with the coral reef animals listed below.

Download “Go Snorkel!”

Additional Uses

When not playing in the traditional way, these same cards could also be used as a:
● Memory Game (line them up in rows face down and flip two at a time to find matches)
● Old Maid Game (remove one of the animals from a pair and use the single remainder as the Old Maid)
● Partner Pairing (pass out cards randomly to students before an activity and have them find the other student with the same animal to get started)
● Biology Sort (group the animals according to classification/adaptation/location/student choice)
● Writing Prompt (oh the stories that could be told!)

What’s missing from this list? Comment below!