Mitten Pattern Matching Game

It's no secret that I have a slight obsession with educational toys and board games. However, I feel like I'm often struggling when it comes to toys/games for my toddler.  They all seem to focus on color or shape matching.  How many toys and games do we need that focus on the same skills? With that in mind, I started looking for other skills. 

Pattern matching seemed like a fun, but so many toys and games use colors to distinguish the patterns also.  That means a kid can just match the color, regardless of the pattern or texture. Therefore, I made my own pattern matching game all in the same color. I went with mittens since we're doing a "winter" theme, but I will probably do some others as well.

Since Archer is still young, we just worked on matching.  For older kids you could turn them over and play "memory". After playing with him, I decided I should have made a "right" and a "left" mitten, so I changed the file for anyone else who might want to use it.

So far, it has been a hit.

You can print the Mitten Pattern Matching Game for free here!

Gross Motor Development Game for Colors and Shapes

Every kid is different, so I find myself trying to adapt learning activities to Archer.  He enjoys moving! To practice our colors and shapes, I made him this Roll and Find Gross Motor Game for colors and shapes.

Making the Game

You will need felt in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, scissors, the printable dice and the shape templates. To make cutting easier, I pinned the template to two sheets of felt so that I could cut multiple shapes out at the same time (you could easily use staples if you don't have pins). I made each shape in two colors, but you could easily make shapes in each color and play with all three dice at once!

Print the free dice and templates HERE!

Playing the Game

There are three dice, one with colors, one with shapes and one with actions (skip, tiptoe, etc.). For now we are just doing either shapes or colors.  When he gets a bit older, we will add in the action die. I might also make more felt shapes, so that he has to find the correct piece with both color and shape. 

Print the free dice and shape templates here!

Archer is only 14 months, but he did much better than I would have expected.  He did eventually get distracted by the stars, because he is a little obsessed with that shape.  He wanted to carry them around instead of stepping on them!

Object Permanence

Way back in my childhood education class in college I learned about the idea of "object permanence."  It is the developmental milestone when babies learn that objects exist even when they cannot see them.  I hadn't thought about object permanence until a couple of weeks ago when I read an article about babies developing separation anxiety  around 8-10 months and how it corresponded with object permanence (hard to be mad mom isn't with you if you don't think she exists).

Xander has understood the concept for a while.  He knows that if he pulls the blanket away during peek a boo, I will be underneath.  He also knows he can crawl to find me if I put him in the hall and go into a bedroom.  I decided to make a game of it, though, to see how strongly he understands the concept.

I grabbed two bowls and a biscuit.  He LOVES those Gerbers biscuits, but they are so incredibly messy that he doesn't get them often.  I showed him the bowls and put the biscuit underneath one, letting him see where I put it.

After a little bit he moved the bowl and got the biscuit.  I let him eat some and then did it again with the rest.  He got really upset with me for hiding it again.

The second time took him longer to get to the cookie.  I also had to show it to him a few times to remind him it was there.  I think it was just because he was unhappy that I didn't immediately give it to him.

He eventually got it, although his face still shows he is not thrilled with me. 

Happy to be eating it again.

I hope to play this game a few more times, so that eventually he learns to look.  Someday I want to be able to hide an object without showing him.  Then I could use different colored bowls or cups and direct him to find it under the "blue" one, or some other adaptation.  We just have to work our way up to it.

Fun with Action Words

Since we try to make learning fun, I am always trying new ways of presenting things or turning them into games.  I love reading the ideas other mom's come up with, so thought I would make a Fun and Games section to share ours.

Being the curious little guy he is, Xander has to know what is going on at all times.  He loves to watch me do things like vacuum or sweep.  I decided to use this.

I got out a bunch of flash cards of action words.

I set him in the middle of the room and showed him one flash card at a time.  Then I would act out the action. When appropriate I would do it around him, or out of the room and back (for example, I would skip in circles around him).  Not only was it engaging for him, he thought this was hilarious.  For some of the words, like clap or stand, I would help him do the action.  He enjoyed that also, but not quite as much as Mommy being silly.