Skillmatics' Connectors: Animal Planet (item SKILL1131CAP), the box our link goes toPhoto: Skillmatics (picture from Toycra's listing)
What's in the box: 54 picture tilesPhoto: Skillmatics (picture from Toycra's listing)
Join each animal to its food or its homePhoto: Skillmatics (picture from Toycra's listing)
A first game for preschoolers and their parentsPhoto: Skillmatics (picture from Toycra's listing)
Video

Family game

Connectors: Animal Planet

Link animal tiles to what they eat and where they live

2–4players · best with 2-4
10–15 minplaying time
3+recommended age
Learning curve
Very easy1 / 5
EasyDemanding
Luck & skill
More luck than skill
LuckSkill
Interaction
Medium
Set-up
Under a minute
Reading
None

The quick verdict

Full verdict ↓

Great for Preschoolers of about 3 to 5 who love animals and matching pictures

Think twice if Your child is 6 or older: Connectors: Mission Space is the series' box for that age, with 96 tiles

How we rate it

Learning curve. The only skill is spotting which animal goes with which food or home; a 3-year-old can manage with a parent beside them. 1 on our scale, alongside UNO and Connect 4.

Luck & skill. Which tiles you get is luck. Where you put them is a small choice that older children in the 3-6 range start to use.

Interaction. All players add to one layout on the table, so a tile you put down can open or close spots for the next child.

Set-up. Spread the 54 tiles on the table, deal them out following the manual, and put down a first tile to build from.

Reading. Picture tiles; an adult reads the English manual.

Learning curve: 1 = UNO or Connect 4; 3 = Catan; 5 = a heavy strategy game. These describe the experience, not an overall score.

Is Connectors: Animal Planet right for you?

Great if

  • Preschoolers of about 3 to 5 who love animals and matching pictures
  • A first game with turns and a winner, short enough for a small child
  • Dadi, Nani or Nana and a grandchild at one table, since nothing needs reading
  • A small birthday or return gift for a child who is animal-mad

Skip it if

  • Your child is 6 or older: Connectors: Mission Space is the series' box for that age, with 96 tiles
  • Grown-ups hoping for a challenge of their own: the puzzle is sized for preschoolers
  • You like to read the rules before buying: Skillmatics shows them only in a video, with the full manual inside the box

How Connectors: Animal Planet plays

Inside are 54 picture tiles (50 game tiles and 4 starting tiles that show a farm or the wild) and a manual. Every connection is about animals: Skillmatics' own pictures give examples such as a leopard that eats meat and lives in the wild, a sheep that is a domestic animal, and a bear that eats both meat and plants. Children join tiles so that each animal meets the right food or the right home.

  • Time to teach: about 5 minutes.
  • Reading and language: A child never has to read: every tile is a picture. Parents get the rules from the English manual or Skillmatics' English video, and can then teach it in Hindi, Marathi or whatever the family speaks.
A first game for preschoolers and their parents · Photo: Skillmatics (picture from Toycra's listing)

Connectors Instructional Video - Animal Planet · Skillmatics · Official

If this creator doesn’t allow embedded playback, watch on YouTube ↗.

A turn, step by step

  1. 1
    Place

    Pick one of your tiles and set it edge to edge with a tile already down.

  2. 2
    Match

    Its picture must pair up correctly: an animal with its food or its home.

  3. 3
    Win

    Run out of tiles first and you win.

Read the official rulesHow to Play Connectors Animal Planet (Skillmatics India video page) · English
The full explanation: how a game of Connectors: Animal Planet goes

Players go one at a time. You choose one of your tiles and set it against a tile already down, above, below or to either side, where its picture makes a true pair: the right food or the right home. The game ends when someone has no tiles left, and that player wins.

Skillmatics' pictures name three ways to play, all built on making correct connections: Link and Learn, where players take turns picking a tile and placing it; Personal Piles, where each player races to finish their own Connectors path; and Turbo Tiles, where the quickest to get rid of all their tiles wins. The manual has the details, and Skillmatics' instructional video for Animal Planet is worth a look before the first game. With a 3-year-old, keep it to simple matching and ask them to say why each animal fits where they put it; by 5 or 6, some children begin to notice that a clever placement can leave a brother or sister stuck.

How it differs from Connectors: Mission Space, which has its own page here: the idea is the same, joining tiles into a path and racing to place all of yours, but Animal Planet has 54 tiles instead of 96, is made for ages 3 to 6 rather than 6 and up, and its matches are about what animals eat and where they live rather than trails between planets. When your child finds this one too easy, Mission Space is the natural next box.

What's in the box

What's in the box: 54 picture tiles · Photo: Skillmatics (picture from Toycra's listing)
  • 50Game tiles
    animals, their food (grass or meat) and their homes
  • 4Starting tiles
    farm and wild scenes to build from
  • 1Instruction manual

Box: 16 × 12.5 × 6 cm, 0.26 kg. Handy to know for gifting and travel.

The listing we link and an Indian store's listing for the same item (SKILL1131CAP) both give 54 tiles and an instruction manual, and Skillmatics' 'What's Inside' pictures say 54 game tiles, split into 50 game tiles and 4 starting tiles. There is no Skillmatics product page to compare against any more. Connectors: Mission Space, the series' 6+ box, has 96 tiles.

Where to buy

Check price on Amazon.in
How to make sure you get a genuine copyEditions and the details worth checking.

About the editions

Connectors is Skillmatics' own series, sold by the Mumbai company itself, and we found no separate overseas version of Animal Planet, so buyers in India have no editions to choose between. Our Amazon.in link goes to the current box, item SKILL1131CAP.

Before you choose

  • The box should name Skillmatics and read Connectors Animal Planet, with 3-6 years on the front.
  • What's inside: 54 picture tiles and a manual, nothing else.
  • Skillmatics' item code for this box is SKILL1131CAP.
  • Check for the word Connectors: Guess in 10 Animal Planet is a different Skillmatics game, a card game for ages 6 and up.

What reviewers and players say

No independent review, parenting blog or forum thread about Connectors: Animal Planet turned up in our searches, and the Indian store listing we read has no customer reviews. What we know comes from Skillmatics: a picture-matching path game for ages 3 to 6, built around what animals eat and where they live, with three ways to play and nothing to read. It is the smaller, gentler sibling of Connectors: Mission Space. Expect a short, calm first game for preschoolers rather than one grown-ups will want to play by themselves.

What people love

  • Pictures only, so the whole family can play in whatever language it speaks at home
  • Children talk about which animals eat meat or plants and which are wild or domestic while they play
  • Quick to learn: Skillmatics says under five minutes
  • Three ways to play in one small box

Common complaints

  • With so little independent feedback, there is no telling yet whether children come back to it for months or tire of it quickly
  • Parents have to learn the game from a video or the manual; Skillmatics posts no written rules
  • Skillmatics no longer lists the Connectors series on its own shop, so beyond the box and one video there is little official information
Based on 4 reviews and discussions

Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.

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Why consider itThis game

Link animal tiles to what they eat and where they live

A different fit

The same tile-linking game for ages 6 and up, with a space theme and 96 tiles

A different fit

Another first animal game for children from 3: match each baby animal to its parents

A different fit

A quick picture-spotting card game for children from 4

Players2–42–41–42–8
Best with2-42-42-33-6
Play time10–15 min10–20 min10–20 min10–15 min
Age3+6+3+4+
RulesEasyEasyEasyEasy
Indian editionAvailableAvailableAvailableAvailable
On this pageExplore Connectors: Mission Space Explore Memory Animal Family Explore Dobble Kids

Also worth a look (not in our catalogue yet): Dominoes – The classic end-to-end matching game that Connectors builds on.

Questions people ask about Connectors: Animal Planet

What age is Connectors Animal Planet for?

Skillmatics makes it for ages 3 to 6, and the box front says 3-6 years. The tiles are pictures, so children don't need to read; a parent reads the manual and explains the rules once.

How is Connectors Animal Planet different from Connectors Mission Space?

Both are about joining tiles into a path and being first to place all of yours. Animal Planet is for younger children: 54 tiles instead of 96, ages 3 to 6 instead of 6 and up, and matches based on what animals eat and where they live rather than trails through space.

Is Connectors Animal Planet the same as Guess in 10 Animal Planet?

No. Guess in 10: Animal Planet is a Skillmatics card game for ages 6 and up in which you ask questions to guess an animal. Connectors: Animal Planet is a tile-matching game for ages 3 to 6. Look for the word Connectors on the box.

How many children can play Connectors Animal Planet?

Two to four. All 54 tiles come into play, and the manual explains how to share them out; Skillmatics' online description doesn't say how many each player starts with.

How do you learn the rules of Connectors Animal Planet?

The printed manual in the box has the rules. Online, Skillmatics' Indian website has a how-to-play page carrying its instructional video for this game, so a parent can see it played before teaching the children.

Game facts

Publisher
Skillmatics (Grasper Global Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, India)
In India
Skillmatics, an Indian company (parent company Grasper Global Pvt Ltd, Mumbai), which sells the game in India
First published
2020
Players
2–4
Barcode
8904279507838
Language
No reading – A child never has to read: every tile is a picture. Parents get the rules from the English manual or Skillmatics' English video, and can then teach it in Hindi, Marathi or whatever the family speaks.
Box size and weight
16 × 12.5 × 6 cm, 0.26 kg
Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.

Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.