Last Updated on July 25, 2024 by Editorial Team
Have you observed little kids trying to match the color of their shoes with that of their clothes? Whether it is matching a rubber band in the hair or matching the color of a bag with a water bottle, kids are fascinated by different colors and coordination. As little learners explore the world of knowledge and different concepts, it is during preschool that children learn things in a way that builds a foundation for higher forms of learning.
The concept of making young learners understand and experience what is similar and what is different can be achieved through a set of various online games as well as matching activities. Matching activities help little learners work on their observation skills and become more assertive with their choices. Given below are some creative activities that offer a fun learning environment along with engaging playtime.
Fun and innovative matching activities for little learners
Activities can be good tools to help young learners discover the concept of matching over time. They help in grasping their wavering attention and help them learn in an interesting manner.
1. Match and Stick
This is a helpful activity for young learners to learn about matching and coordination. It is a challenging activity and helps in developing focus and perseverance in young kids.
- Give students a worksheet with pictures of various random objects
- Objects can be a box, pencil, pen, tree, or duster
- Give students a set of different pictures to place on the sheet
- These pictures include the same random objects
- Ask them to correctly pair and place the same object in front of each other
Matching different pictures helps with better concentration and it improves visual communication too.
2. Color, Color, Same Color
Coloring helps students learn more playfully and joyfully. The activity enables students to become a bit more artistic and creative.
- Give students a worksheet with different colored boxes and every colored box should have an empty box beside it.
- Ask them to use their crayons and make pairs of matching colors
Such an activity helps in adding a little color to their time in class. It engages students effortlessly and helps them enjoy the process of learning.
3. Copy Cat
Copy Cat is an interactive activity that helps students with matching movements. It promotes active class participation and encourages communication among classmates.
- Ask students to stand up
- Stand in the middle of the class and do various actions
- Actions like, waving hands, closing eyes, making circles in the air
- Ask students to copy you and match your actions as you do them
This activity helps in developing the motor skills of students, hence acting as a motor skills activity. While here they match your action, it also helps in developing hand-eye coordination.
4. Where’s My Buddy?
This activity can help students learn through observation. The activity focuses on building concentration and allowing students to explore their subject in a creative sense.
- Bring a set of various stickers
- Take one and stick it on a student’s hand
- Now, ask students to remain silent about their stickers
- Play the music and let everyone dance
- Stop the music and ask students to find a classmate with the same sticker as theirs
- Once they find their pair, ask them to show these matching pairs to everyone
This activity can help build harmony and help young learners get along with each other. Also, it teaches them to be spontaneous and improves their coordination with others.
5. Match The Numbers
Match the Numbers helps in developing basic math knowledge in an easy manner. It offers a fun learning environment with color recognition skills.
- To conduct this activity, make different sets of numbers
- Now, make sure the chits are divided into different colors
- For example, two chits can be like this 100 written in blue color and 100 written in red color
- Ask students to pick a chit and call them one by one to the center stage
- They need to show the chit and read out the number and their pair from the class needs to come to complete the activity
This activity can be conducted in class with different permutations and combinations of numbers or alphabets.
6. Show Your Flashcards
Flashcards are an interesting way to integrate learning in a fun manner. This activity promotes recognition of different actions with its verb.
- For this activity, print different pictures that depict an action, for example, singing, running, dancing, or eating
- Stick these pictures on flashcards
- Create 2 sets and divide them equally
- Play the music and let all students show their cards
- Once the music stops, they need to match their images with the other student and form a picture
- That is, the image of singing matches with the other image of singing, and so on
Little learners get a good opportunity to develop motor skills and improve concentration. They also learn about different verbs and their usage in the activity.
7. Match the Fruit
This activity is a simple activity. It helps students to learn not only about different types of fruits but also helps them to learn about the same colors.
- Give students any particular fruit from a set of different fruits
- Keep a set of different fruits scattered in the class as in like a market
- Ask students to bring matching fruits
- Ask them to arrange the pairs of matching fruits on their desks
This activity can also help students get a glimpse of how a market works. It promotes active participation and helps students learn with enthusiasm.
8. Matching Leaves
This activity is all about observational learning. It helps students learn through involvement in matching as well as nature.
- Divide students into teams
- Give students a set of 5-10 different leaves stuck on a worksheet
- Keep different bowls having different types of leaves
- Ask students to get the matching leaves and place the matching one next to the already stuck leaves on the worksheet
As students get to see leaves, they are more likely to understand the fundamentals of patterns and textures. It also helps in helping students learn the diversity of plants present around them. Thus, this activity can also build up naturalistic intelligence too.
9. Matching Design
This is a creative and artistic activity. It helps in enhancing focus and promoting involvement in the classroom.
- Draw a simple pattern or design on the blackboard
- The design or pattern can be drawn by using various shapes, lines, or figures
- For example, wavy lines or an easy shape
- Ask students to draw the same pattern drawn on the board
Such an activity offers an opportunity to not just match the shape but also understand the technique and match it. Students get to learn how the hand moves in making a square thereby sharpening their motor skills.
10. What’s in the Restaurant?
Little learners are surely fascinated by mouth-watering food items. This activity focuses on matching different food dishes in an interesting manner.
- To conduct this activity, take different magnets of food items including pizza, burger, cold drink, French fries, or even the vegetables
- Now, take a whiteboard and stick these magnets on the left
- The matching magnets should be put in a box
- One by one, call students to find the matching food item and make pairs by placing the magnet next to that item
While students keep matching similar elements, this activity offers a unique take on exploring the names of food dishes. It triggers the brain to think, understand, and remember the information.
Wrapping up
Various types of matching activities can help students learn coordination and focus in an interactive and playful manner. Moreover, these activities can also be of help to students with dyslexia, who might struggle with coordination. It helps in promoting active participation and involvement while learning in the classroom.
These activities help in the development of observational learning, logical understanding, and mathematical skills of students as well. Through the usage of activities, students remember the concepts better as they learn them through hands-on experience.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,