Object Matching Puzzle Ideas
If you've followed me on Instagram or Snapchat (:blwideas) for a while, you'll see that I do these object matching puzzles A LOT. I really like making them, and Alexander likes doing them. We started them around 20 months, and he's almost 34 months now. (No I don't normally say he's 34 months, but since I said 20 months first, I figured I'd keep the measurement the same, ya know?)
This puzzle idea has evolved into a lot of different things! I want to share ideas I've used for these puzzles, and if I come up with more, I'll (try to remember to) update this post!
HOW TO MAKE AN OBJECT MATCHING PUZZLE:
- Get a sheet of paper, large or small. (I have a giant roll of paper that I usually use. I bought it for $5.00 at our local newspaper! It's called a scrap roll, and most papers will have them for sale. That one roll has lasted over a year.)
- Gather objects: by size, by shape, by theme. If your child is younger, like 1.5 years or less, start with 5 objects. If that's too easy, bump it up to 10. If your child is 2+ years, you can increase the difficulty in a lot of ways: add more objects, make them very similar to each other, orient them on the paper in different ways (like a rectangular prism, such as a tissue box, can be a skinny rectangle, fat rectangle, or small rectangle, depending on which side you place on the paper!).
- Arrange the objects onto the paper.
- Trace around each object and remove it as you do.
- Tape the paper to a table or to the floor, place the objects around the paper, and step back! Your kiddo is almost 100% going to figure out what to do without much guidance.
“TIP: Some objects look very different, but their outline is very similar! A shoe and a bottle may be nearly identical when you convert them to 2-dimensional. Avoid that if you can!”
Here are a few concrete ideas for you:
RANDOM OBJECTS
The first several times I did this, I just grabbed a bunch of objects that were fairly distinct. Notice that the shoe in his hand could technically go in two different places, although that wasn't the plan.
KITCHEN THEME
Kitchen utensils and tools are easy to put together! And they are generally really different from each other in shape. You can even use a cutting board, pot or pan, toaster, etc. if your paper is large enough to accommodate that. You could get tricky with it by tracing a bunch of small forks, large forks, small spoons, and large spoons. (I may do that myself!)
NATURE THEME
Another easy one to put together! Step outside. Find some sticks, leaves, rocks, pinecones, petals, whatever. Then check your kitchen for fruits and vegetables that are easy to trace. You could do an outside theme where you trace JUST the things from outside and have a separate fruits and vegetables one.
LARGE OBJECTS
This was really fun to put together. And it was one of the most tricky! The globe is a complex shape, but it's base is a simple circle. That took a bit of deduction, trial and error. Additionally, a child chair's "shape" at the base is 4 small squares, one per leg. So that was another tricky one. Ultimately, this was VERY popular!
TINY OBJECTS
Another fun one to put together! I gathered all the tiny objects I could find: a paper clip, bobby pin, thimble, etc. These were also really tough to trace, so I ended up eyeballing most of them (they were close enough!). He was only able to get about 80% of it on his own, and I helped him through the rest.
SAME SHAPES
Circles were the easiest for me to find! I found lids, mostly, that were circles but different sizes. I played around to try to find a good collection that decreased in size. He got it pretty quickly though!
I'd love to see YOUR object matching puzzles! If you follow me on Snapchat, just send them to me. If you're on Instagram, tag me @mostlymontessori if you ever make one of your own!
