DIY File Folder Color Matching Game

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At 18 months old and full of boundless energy, Little Brother is learning and growing by leaps and bounds every day!

We are working a lot on learning colors. His ABeka Nursery Arts and Crafts book has been great as it has different activities to focus on a new color each month. He has done lots of coloring, fingerpainting, Q-Tip painting, and pasting torn up construction paper to make collages.

He also loves playing with different colors of Play-Doh (mostly he loves tearing it into the tiniest pieces possible and scattering the pieces onto the freshly vacuumed living room carpet...ahem).

Yesterday I made a very simple color matching file folder game for him.



What I Used:

- 1 plain file folder
- 9 sheets of construction paper (9 different colors)
- glue stick
- scissors
- pen
- Play-Doh can lid (for tracing circles)
- clear Duck tape (use a laminator if you have one...I do not)
- markers or crayons to match the construction paper colors

Step 1 -

Trace 2 circles on each sheet of construction paper. Cut them out.

Step 2 -

Paste one circle of each color onto the inside of the file folder. Write the color word under each circle using a matching marker or crayon.

Step 3 -

Laminate each of the remaining circles. I do not have a laminator, but I did happen to have a roll of clear Duck tape! Works just as well! ;-) You just want these little game pieces to be somewhat sturdy before eager little hands get hold of them! I have a Ziploc baggie for storing them. It stays in the file folder.

To Play:

Match the play pieces to the correct color on the file folder!

I introduced the game to Little Brother this morning, and it surprised me how long it held his attention. We spent around 15 minutes practicing saying and signing color words as I helped him figure out how to match up the pieces.

He had never done any kind of matching game like this before, so this is great practice for him. The more we play together, the better he will get. And it's fun!

Later on I will probably make more of these as he moves on to learning shapes and eventually letters and numbers. You could also easily make matching games like this using pictures from any number of themes (holidays, animals, favorite books, pictures of family members, etc.).

These little games are great because they are quick to make, they take up very little space, and they can be easily stored on a bookshelf or in a file box.

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Did you find this post inspiring? Feel free to Pin and share! Let me know if you make a game like this of your own! I would love to hear about it!

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