Hey Parents!
We know being cooped up in the house can be hard for little ones – especially with the rain and a lot of playgrounds currently closed. However, keeping their hands and brains active doesn’t have to be hard or expensive. With as few as two items from the dollar store, you can create a fun matching game for your little ones. This is an activity our 2-year old class participates in. It is easily customizable and can be as simple or as advanced as needed. This is a great game for number and letter recognition. See below for materials and instructions.
Egg Matching Game
Materials
- plastic eggs
- permanent marker
Instructions
- Gather your eggs and a permanent marker. Ensure your plastic eggs are completely separated. Most of them have a plastic tab on the back that will need to be cut.
- Decide what you want to match. For example, if you want to work on letters, you can write a capital letter (A) on the top half of the egg and a lowercase letter (a) on the bottom half. If you are working on numbers, you can write the Arabic number on the top half (2) and the correct number of tally marks on the bottom half (||). Need to work on colors or shapes? The concept is the exact same!
- Divide the plastic egg halves in whatever container you have handy – mixing bowls and baking pans work great. (For some additional sensory experience, we added colored rice to our baking dish. It’s so much fun to scoop rice in the eggs!) Then let your little one go to work matching the correct top to the correct bottom.
Why We Love This
This game is as easy as 1-2-3 and completely customizable for whatever level your child is at! In this example, the main focus is on matching the correct letters and numbers. However, you can easily adjust as needed. For younger ones, you can leave the eggs as is and simply match the correct color. For a more advanced challenge for older ones, encourage them to find the letters in their name. Snapping the eggs back together is also a good fine motor exercise so win-win!
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