Toddlers are learning at such a fast pace, and it can be overwhelming to keep coming up with fun and interactive activities that will challenge their brain. In this article, you’ll learn 4 super easy-to-put-together color matching games for toddlers. You’ll definitely want to incorporate these into your weekly rotation.
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The Rocks Are The Star!
The superstars of these color matching games are the rocks. It seems that I’ve yet to find a toddler who loves rocks. Why is that? I don’t quite see the wonder of rocks, but the toddlers just find them to be magical.
We’re going to channel that delight with these activities.
The first step in this process is gathering rocks. You’ll need to go on a little exploration outside. Go to the park, the woods, or the home decor section of Target if rocks are really hard to come by in your neck of the woods. The color of the rocks doesn’t matter as they will be covered in paint.
Choose rocks that are large enough to avoid risk of choking.
You’ll also need to gather the following items:
- Paint (I used 4 colors, but you can use whatever number you want)
- 1 small bowl for each paint color (Styrofoam bowls from the dollar store work perfectly)
- Paper
- Crayons
- Printable Dot Pictures. I have free dot sticker printables you can use for this HERE. Download Packet #3 which contains 5 pages of sea animals with colored dots. You don’t need dot stickers for these sheets as packet #3 already has colored dots.
Super Easy Prep
What I love about these color matching games is the incredibly easy prep.
Grab your rocks, paint, and small bowls. Divide the rocks among the bowls, pour a small amount of paint in each bowl, and shake the rocks around to coat rocks and the inside of the bowl. I let my toddler help with this step. Thankfully, things didn’t get too messy!
The colored bowls will be used for one of the color matching games.
Put the painted rocks on a paper towel or outside to dry quickly. Also allow your painted bowls to dry.
The stars of the show are ready!
4 Color Matching Games For Toddlers
Simple Color Matching Bowl Game
This game is super easy. Simply place all the painted rocks on the floor, table, or wherever is convenient. Place the painted bowls nearby and let your toddler match the rocks to the correct bow.
Color Matching Grid Game
Grab a sheet of paper and crayons that match the colors of the rocks. Simply make a four square grid (create a grid for the number of colors you used), and color each grid. Match the rocks to the correct grid color.
Squiggly Line Color Matching Game
Using a piece of paper and the same crayons used to make the grid, draw squiggle lines on the paper. Put rocks on the corresponding squiggle line color.
Color Dot Matching Game
Print out the color dot sheets HERE. Be sure to print out packet #3 with the colored dots. Hopefully, you have some of the same colors that are shown on the dot sheets. Match the rocks to the dot color.
Get Creative!
I hope your toddler loved these coloring matching games.
It’s ok if they don’t quite get the concept straight away. My 2-year-old had his own ideas and wasn’t too interested in matching the colors, but he really loved playing with the rocks, bowls and different sheets I prepared for him. It all counts as part of the learning and exploring process, so embrace every stage of the learning journey!
There are so many different color matching games you could create with the painted rocks. Let your mind go wild and come up with the craziest games you can think of.
Let me know below what you come up with. It’s so fun to hear what kind of creative thoughts others have. Can’t wait to hear from you.
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