Matching: 25 ways to tell, show, and do!

Learning how to match things together is a necessary skill that a child should be able to begin learning and doing as early on as 2 years old.  You can teach this concept in so many different and easy ways.  Matching is the capability for a child or person to put two, or more, of the same things together to represent alike.  The easiest way to explain matching to a young child is to make it "short and sweet."

Tell child:  "Matching means putting together things that look the same."

Show child: Put two of the same looking pictures, objects, or things together.

Learn with child:  Lay out objects on the floor that will help teach your child the concept of matching.  Encourage child to match and sort objects according to same attributes.

25 WAYS

Things you can use, or do, at home to easily teach matching skills with your child:

1. Using free paint sample cards from Lowes or Home Depot to teach matching colors, as shown in picture

2. Putting pairs of socks together

3. Putting pairs of shoes together

4. Putting together same shapes, as shown in picture

5. Putting together matching colored toys or blocks

6. Matching colors using Kool-Aid packages, as shown in picture

7. Putting same coins together; nickles, dimes, pennies, and quarters

8. Matching crayon colors

9. Play dough ball sizes OR cotton ball sizes (big and small), as shown in picture examples

 

10. Matching Goldfish colors

11. Matching Fruit Loops Cereal colors, as shown in picture

12. Matching colored M&M's, as shown in picture

13. Spoons and Forks together (for 3 years and up)

14. Alphabet letters (capitol and lowercase or same case-letters), as shown in pictures

 

15. Paper strips cut in different lengths to match sizes, as shown in picture

16. Matching numbers on tickets, as shown in picture

17. Matching letters in their name usign paper or tape, as shown in picture

 

18. Matching together movies or DVD's that are the same genre, for instance, all the Mickey Mouse movies together or all of the Blue's Clue's Movies together

19. Numbers and corresponding dots on spoons and plates, as shown in picture

20. Playing a game of copy-cat.  Copying actions of someone else to match what they are doing, as shown in picture

21. Matching one-to-one correspondence, as shown in picture

22. Matching colors together using an egg carton and tortillas that are colored, as shown in picture

23. Using snack items to teach matching concepts, such as tall and short or one-to-one correspondence, see picture examples

24. Using "Memory-like" board games to match same pictures on cards - or Use flash cards

25. Have your toddler or preschooler put together matching sight words with their beginning letter on a chart like shown in the picture below