Matching is a very important basic early math skill for preschoolers. Through matching, children learn to identify simple relationships as they learn to recognise similarities of things or objects in the environment. It also helps children to develop their logical thinking abilities, a foundation to help them understand more complex numeral and other mathematical concepts later on.
There are many different components of matching concepts such as matching shapes, patterns, identical objects, as well as matching objects based on different qualities like size, textures and functions (e.g. shoes and socks, fork and spoon, etc.)
The best way to introduce matching to your toddlers is through daily life experiences as they explore the environment and observe similarities or differences in things around them such as flowers of the same color, identical cups, blocks of the same size or colors, etc.
It is best to let your children first practice matching concrete objects such as matching fruits, leaf, balls, shoes, socks, animal toys, cutleries, cloth of different patterns, colored pebbles, and many more! After matching with concrete objects, you can then let your children match pictures and print outs. You can find a lot of ideas on hands-on matching activities on Pinterest.
I have created a set of high quality shapes matching worksheets that you can use to review the concept with your children or use them as additional practice.
When you download this shapes matching set you will receive nine worksheets of different layouts and level of difficulties to give you more choices. You can pick and choose the activities that are more suitable for your children's abilities. Included in the set are:
3 classic matching worksheets on the different geometrical shapes like circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, diamond, pentagon, hexagon, octagon and trapezium / trapezoid and the different three-dimensional (solid) shapes like sphere, cone, cylinder, cube, cuboid / rectangular prism and pyramid.
Another variation of matching worksheets. These are slightly more complex than the ones above as the shapes are placed randomly and are not in a straight line.
3 worksheets to help children practice their observational skills to identify two identical shapes in a group of four or five shapes
These worksheets and activities are created based on the Singapore's math / numeracy curriculum framework for Kindergarten. The shapes matching worksheets in the set can be used to help achieve the learning goal to help children recognise and use simple relationships and the learning objective to match identical shapes.
Click on link below to download the shapes matching bundle set
Or click HERE to download some free sample pages from the set.
Other related posts on matching: