Star Size Matching Game

Unlike most of my other matching games, in this one we are focusing on size. I cut stars identical in every way except their 3 different sizes and pasted them to the inside of a folder. Each had its "match" in a baggie stapled to the folder.

Food dye experiments

We experimented with different colors of food dye in a glass of water, watching the dye make swirls in the water, and then adding other colors to see what would happen.

Sorting

Sorting into matching groups is a great skill to practice. And all you have to do is set out a few different colors of large buttons and a muffin tray (or a few cups). Zeke really enjoyed matching and sorting the buttons. This could easily be done with any small items though- painted rocks, decorative erasers, ect. A trip to the dollar store yeilds endless possibilities.

For added fine motor challenge include a spoon, tweezers, tongs, or another tool to sort with.

Sound Matching

To create our sound matching game, Zeke and I filled 2 of each of these eggs with different materials we picked out of the kitchen -rice, pepper corn, ect. We kept the colors the same, since I thought Zeke would be confused by eggs that looked different yet sounded the same. I've seen other people make this same game with film canisters, however, that all look identical. That would be ideal for an older child, forcing them to rely on sound only to match them. I suppose you could do the same with eggs, if you had enough eggs of the same color?

Either way, we had a lot of fun putting this together, as well as talking and playing with our shakers in the days after. They are great for shaking in time to music, playing memory, and just plain matching.

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.

Sensory Bag

All you have to do for this one is fill a baggie with shaving cream, and then a few drops of food coloring. Be sure to tape over the opening, for extra enforcement. Squish away, and try to get all the color mixed in.

With two different colors of food coloring, or paint, you could also use these sensory bags to explore color mixing.

Zoo Matching Game

I used to make these matching games for all sorts of themes, from matching simple shapes and colors, to matching pictures of weather with the appropriate outfit.

This one, obviously is a Zoo game, matching animals with their babies.
Just print out, color, cut, and paste a few different animals to the inside of a manilla folder. Babies can be colored, cut, and then laminated.
I always staple a baggie to the inside, to hold the loose pieces of the matching game.

Fishing Game

I put this together, because, well, who doesn't love a magnetic fishing game?

But it could also be used to learn colors or numbers (notice the sequins).

All I did was free-hand cut two identical fish shapes, and then blanket stitch them together with a washer in their mouth to be the metal attractor.

My fishing rod is a stick found in our backyard, some twine, and a magnet.

Zeke loves to put down a piece of blue silk to act like the water, and he calls out the color or number of the fish that he "catches".

Dropper Activity

Two dishes, some water, and a medicine dropper from the pharmacy. I filled one dish, and left the other empty, and encouraged Zeke to move all the water from one dish to the other. Which he did, numerous times. I left the water plain, nervous about how well Z would be able to control the dropper, but he did great, it was the perfect amount of difficulty for him.

I think with some food dye and a 3rd bowl this could be a really fun color-mixing experiment. Or even a fun art project, dripping food dye or watercolors onto paper. So there you go, 2 household objects and 3 possibilities.