Leftovers....more Valentine Fun!

 So I created a bunch of these hearts as you saw on the previous post.  I thought about making a few more banners for different locations but then I decided I had a better idea.  Although my little guy isn't 100% ready for this I figured I might as well create it now- A FUN MATCHING GAME.   I laminated a few matches that I had cut out to create a fun festive matching game!  He just liked holding the hearts. I didn't even try to see if he would match them! Note: This is more of a "next step" skill as the patterns can be harder to discriminate between because the colors are similar and typically matching is started by only having one difference -ie different colors but all the same shape or all the same color but different shapes, usually you don't throw patterns of similar colors in until later so if you kid is ready bring it on.  If not let them just have fun with the hearts and they just might surprise you!

 You could also throw one of each match on a file folder and throw velcro on the back of the rest to create a quick and fun file folder game for the car or church or just to keep all the pieces nice and close!

Speaking of Catie

Speaking of Catie I thought I would share one of her creative teaching ideas that I found a few weeks ago on one of the walls at my parents house.  Every Monday our family has "Family Home Evening" its a time to study the gospel, spend time together, learn about our Father in Heaven and just have fun.  Everyone in the family has a job and I guess Catie must have had the game.  When I asked her wjhat it was called she said "Matchmaker."  She made it the week of Valentine's Day!  I think it is adorable and feel like you could do something very similar very quickly for the things your students or children may be learning, weather they be sight words, shapes, colors etc.  Make your own matchmaker game!  Thanks Catie!!!

Hat and Mitten Match

So while I was teaching I made this fun hat/mitten match game.(I thought it would be appropriate considering the weather most of us are experiencing at this time!)

 Its just like memory only a little bit more modified.  

I went to a teaching store and grabbed a package of these little hats and mittens.  

Then I got two copies of some cute winter stickers.  I put one sticker on a hat and its match on a mitten.  This made for a very fun winter center in my classroom. Each one had velcro on the back and stuck to one of my center dividers.  This was very convenient.

It was easier than your typical memory game because instead of having all the pictures to choose from they knew that a match consisted of 1 hat and 1 mitten.  I usually lined them up with all the mittens together and all the hats together to help the students remember where everything was. 

It was a hit.

Other Benefits and Uses: This did a lot for my students vocabulary. We would ask them to tell us about the picture and verbalize what they saw. For some students, depending on their abilities we would expect a one word description while we would have others create a sentence. It was also a great game to learn the social skill of taking turns.
Make Your Own: Weather you are a teacher, Mom, Grandma, Babysitter or Friend. This can be very simple to make. I was just looking through my scrapbook stuff and found lots of things I could put to use for future memory games.Go look through your own stash.  You could probably whip one up right now for yourself or as a gift. I also thought about matching games I could make for my sunday school class..hmm!!

*In fact since I had them all laying out on the table, my husband and I took it upon ourselves to give it a little try.  He and our little guy beat me bad but it was very fun!!  Enjoy!