Free Toddler Matching Game with Toys
I found the perfect free toddler matching game for my 21 month old. This is one of the best toddler activities for 18 month olds and older. Like most toddlers Amelia loves toys and pictures so combining the two was the perfect toddler match game!
Toddler matching games are a good way to stimulate memory and pattern recognition and I am pleased to say my little girl has mastered this game at a young age. I will repeat it again with my son when he reaches the age of 1.
Find out what I did below!
What you need for this Free Toddler Matching Game
- Toy catalogue
- Lots of toys (just use the ones you already have as your toddler will be familiar with these)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Small Pieces of Cardboard to make them less likely to rip. Use cardboard from used cereal boxes.
Find your toddler’s favorite toys and locate them in your toy catalogue. Using the scissors cut out the pictures. Using glue stick these pictures to cardboard.
You can write the name of the toy above the picture to help your toddler get used to words. Explain the free toddler matching game and tell your child that you will lay the cards out on the floor and they need to find the corresponding toy and set it beside the card.
While you are going through the toy catalogues and your child is playing with toys remember to tell them the name of the toy and encourage them to be creative.
Bonus is the fact that toy catalogues are an indirect way to use toys that promote language development! Yep my little girl has learned to say so many words from Batman to tractor to pram! I should mention that toy catalogues are one of the fantastic infant toddler activities to keep them busy and let you have a breather!
You Can DO This Free Toddler Matching Game with Photographs
I decided to take photographs of a few of my daughter’s toys and use these for the matching game described above. I did the game myself, matching photographs with their corresponding toys explaining everything to her along the way. Initially she struggled to grasp what I was doing but after a while this toddler match game became apparent to her.
You can also make it really simple and have two photographs of each toy and get your toddler to match them together. I guess I skipped this stage with my daughter but I might do it with my son when he reaches this stage.
I will take this game one step further when Amelia is older by writing the names of the toys on the back of the photograph and asking her to set the name of the photograph beside the correct toy without looking at the picture. I guess this will take her a long time to master as letter recognition is a skill which takes longer to master.
Toddler matching games like this are amongst the top learning toys for toddlers!
Summary of my Free Toddler Matching Game
- Simplest way to play is match 2 photographs of the same toy
- Or match a photograph with the toy
- Or match the name of the toy to the actual toy