Our daughter loves to match.
You wouldn’t guess it from her willingness to throw outrageous outfits together on a whim (although, they are amazingly colour coordinated).
But, she is methodical about discovering how things go together in a pattern, texture and colour sort of way.
She’ll spend literally hours making piles of buttons, shells, ribbon, anything she can find – except for the store-bought matching games of any kind.
The kiddo’s been all over my scraps of crafting paper and has taken to sorting the bits left over from any given project. She’s particularly fond of Crate Paper patterns I’ve been using from Scrap Book Central.
It would be easy enough to just let her sort all of the leftovers. But, they always end up torn and tattered and I wanted something she could use over and over again.
So, when I came across a great idea for a craft paper matching game at Creative Chicks At Play, I modified it a bit to be easy enough for us and got busy. Because it involves an exacto knife, this project is most definitely not for tiny hands.
The kiddo did help me glue the squares on. But, otherwise, this was a parent-only project.
Here’s what you need to make a 16-square game:
- An 8×11 piece of foam core (I picked ours up at PJ’s on 13th in the same strip as Scrap Book Central)
- Eight pieces of scrap book paper (you pretty much have to buy them in full sheets. So, plan on saving the rest for other crafting)
- A ruler
- An exacto knife
- A pencil
- Glue stick
Directions:
1. Measure 2 inches in on the foam core, mark with a pencil. Take the ruler and use it as a guide to cut a straight line along the top layer of foam core (don’t expect to cut through the whole piece). Bend the foam core so it creases and then cut along the crease to finish up one 2-inch-wide strip. Repeat.
2. Take the strips and place a mark every two inches. Cut to form 2×2 squares.
3. Do the same with the scrap book paper.
4. Glue each square of scrap book paper onto one of the foam core squares.
5. Let the squares dry thoroughly, and then let the games begin.
The craft cupboard is a preferred location at our house. Check out what we’re up on the CVK Kids Craft Ideas page HERE
July 5, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Hi Robin;
We love ‘homemade’ matching games too – socks, coins, button sorting. Anything that can be made into groups. these are better for older ones of course because of the choking hazard, but we have taken this now to playing cards and letters. We could match and sort all day! Love the patterns you chose
Carol Anne
July 5, 2008 at 5:52 pm
p.s. We let him do the cutlery too…
July 6, 2008 at 9:55 am
that’s a great idea!!! Definitely filing this one away!
July 7, 2008 at 8:28 am
Thanks Carol Anne and Jennifer.
Sorting is a funny thing, like watching your kids minds at work.
I liked this project, but half joke too that it is one of my faves because it is so pretty. Such a girl:)