Beastly Puzzle Generator

In my book Beastly Puzzles, I give readers a list of objects found in the human world, then ask what animal the objects could make. It’s all a bit weird and crazy, but hopefully fun! Do you want to come up with your own Beastly Puzzles? It’s pretty easy, but you have to think a little scientifically and a lot creatively to get the job done. Ready?

Step One: What are the Clues?

Animals are so amazingly unique. Some live in hot places. Some have thick fur for the cold. Some live up trees. Some live underground. Some hunt deer. Some eat slugs. Some are fast. Some can fly. Like I said, animals are all so amazingly unique.

But despite so many differences, here’s something fascinating to think about: all animals are built to solve the same basic survival problems. But they’ve solved them in thousands of different ways. Let’s look:

1. MOVEMENT: Maybe they have hooves, wings, fins, or claws. Maybe they serpentine, climb or hop. There are so many different ways to get around.

2. GET FOOD: Is the animal a hunter or a gatherer? Does it chase dinner or it pick berries? Maybe it likes the ambush! Look carefully at animals to see what parts of their bodies help them get their dinner.

3. EAT: Eating is the fun part! Some animals chomp or snip with big teeth. Some suck nectar through a straw. Some lick. Some filter. Some swallow their dinners whole.

4. PROTECTION: Most animals need some sort of protection. Maybe it’s speed, spines, stink, fangs, camouflage, venom, horns . . .

5. HABITAT: Think of all the different habitats in the world and the animals that live in therm. Hot, cold, nocturnal, up a tree, underwater, in the sky, underground, in your house. Do they fur to keep them warm? Or special night-vision eyeballs to see in the dark?

We’ll make our clues by thinking about how an animal has solved each of these five survival problems.

Step Two: Choose your Animal

Pick your favourite animal or an animal you’d like to learn more about. I’ll pick a North American porcupine. Now, let’s figure out how porcupines move, get food, eat their food, protect themselves, and survive in their particular world. You’ll probably need to do some research. Do you have an animal encyclopedia? Or get your parents to help you look on the internet. National Geographic Animals is a great place to start. I bet you learn something new about your creature! I just learned a whole bunch of cool porcupine facts. 

1. MOVEMENT

Porcupines climb and live in trees. Probably a lot of different body parts help them climb, but I’m going to just choose claws.

2 & 3. GET FOOD and EAT

Did you know porcupines gnaw on bark? I just found this out—I thought they ate bugs! They also eat leaves, fruits, and nuts. Since they don’t chase their food or pick it, I’m using gnawing teeth as my answer for the second and third problem.

4. PROTECTION

Quills! Porcupines have as many as 30,000! They also have a quill-covered tail to lash at attackers. Did you know porcupines can’t actually shoot their quills? (I didn’t.) You have to touch them to get poked. Also, the quills of North American porcupines have barbs that make them harder (and much more painful!) to pull out. So I’m actually going to have two body parts for Protection: quills and barbs.

5. HABITAT

North American porcupines live in cold climates and have two kinds of fur to keep them warm. I’m going to say fur coat.

Step Three: Let’s get Creative!

Now for the fun part! For each of those body parts listed above, let’s come up with a object from the human world.

There are two ways you can think about this. You are either think about what the body part looks like or how it is used. So for quills, my clue might be knitting needles—because that what quills look like. Or I could get a little weird and say barbed wire—because that’s how they are used: as protection and to keep the enemy away.

So this is what I came up with. I have a grappling hook to help the porcupine climb, a bark scraper to eat the underbark off trees, barbed wire as protection, fish hooks as the barbs on the quills, and a thick winter coat.

And how about I throw in two more porcupine fact I learned: porcupines make a strong musky smell when they feel threatened, and they are near-sighted. How about we put in two more clues: a bottle of bad perfume and glasses? So there you have it my friends, our very own Beastly Puzzle! Now just write it as a question:

What animal can you make with a grappling hook, a bark scraper, barbed wire, fish hooks, a winter coat, glasses, and a bottle of bad perfume?

Sometimes all the clues look like they belong in the same room or place—like you might find all of these porcupine clues in a log cabin. But more often, the clues won’t seem to belong together at all. But don’t worry about that. Why not make up a crazy room and draw them all together anyway! And don’t forget to add a cryptic hint!

And remember, there are no right or wrong clues—I could just have easily have used knitting needles instead of barbed wire or a vegetable peeler instead of the bark scrapper. This is your Beastly Puzzle, and you’re the boss!

If you do make a Beastly Puzzle, please send it to me at racheljudy@shaw.ca I’d love to see it!