Kangaroo Words
| No. of Players: | 1+ |
| Type of Game: | written |
| What you need: | pen and paper |
Goal
To find words within other synonymous words.
How to play
A kangaroo word is a word that contains the letters of another synonymous word within itself, just like how kangaroos carry their offspring (called joeys) in a pouch. But the joey word must be spelled in the correct sequence. For example, illuminated is a kangaroo word because it contains lit, but conclude is not because end is out of sequence.
The gamemaster prepares a list of kangaroo words and distributes it to the other players. The first player to correctly identify all the synonyms they contain, or the player who finds the most within a set time, is the winner and becomes the gamemaster for the next round. Alternatively, anti-kangaroo words can be selected, which is a word that contains the letters of an antonym word, such as female (which contains male) and pest (pet).
Example
Amelia prepares a list of fifteen kangaroo words for the other players. She gives them five minutes to find as many joeys as possible. Betty was able to complete the entire list before time expired.
| equivalent | ➔ | equal |
| burst | ➔ | bust |
| chocolate | ➔ | cocoa |
| alone | ➔ | one |
| community | ➔ | city (or county) |
| deceased | ➔ | dead |
| encourage | ➔ | urge |
| feasted | ➔ | fed |
| instructor | ➔ | tutor |
| precipitation | ➔ | rain |
| regulate | ➔ | rule |
| supremacist | ➔ | racist |
| gigantic | ➔ | giant |
| insignia | ➔ | sign |
| sweaty | ➔ | wet |
Did you know?
There are more kangaroos in Australia than humans. Because of the clearing of bushlands for pasture by European settlers, the 45 native species of kangaroos and wallabies have greatly expanded from their intial population.
But their entrance into the world is anything but easy. A joey is born as a fetus, fully formed like a kangaroo but under an inch long – or about the size of a jelly bean. They must crawl from the womb up the front of their mother's stomach to get into the pouch.
Joeys then stay in the pouch for the next 6 months before they begin to leave for short periods, returning only when they need to feed. A joey will permanently leave the pouch after about 8–11 months, depending on the species.
