Leaf Matching Game

I put together a leaf matching game for Zeke this week, since the animal matching one went over so very well.

First I copied off a pattern to decorate the front, colored and cut it, and pasted in onto a manila folder.

Then I copied off 2 sheets of leaf patterns and colored and cut those as well. The first set I pasted into the inside of the folder (I also labeled the leaves as oak, maple, ect). The second I laminated. You can see I also stapled a baggie into the inside of the folder to hold the laminated leaves.
Thus a very simple matching game was made.

A fun idea for a slightly older child would be to print off patterns (or real pictures) of leaves, paste them into the folder, and then take a walk in your nearby neighborhood, park, or arboretum to find real leaves to match. This would be a great way to learn how to identify different leaves.

Or alternately you could cut the leaves in half, so that the child is matching up one half of the leaf to the other buy shape.