Continuing with my dinosaur-themed printables, I decided to make a dinosaur color matching game your dinosaur-crazy toddlers and preschoolers are bound to love.
But wait – oh no! All the dinosaurs have lost their eggs!
In this game your children will have to help the dinosaurs out by correctly finding the eggs which match their color!
I’ve made 12 dinosaurs so far and they’re all included in this game – from the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex to the heavily armored Ankylosaurus – and they’re all pretty cute!
Other dinosaur printables that you may want to have a look at:
- Dinosaur Trace The Lines Writing Practice
- Dinosaur Letter Matching Game
- Baby Dinosaur Counting Game
- Dinosaur Coloring Pages
- DIY Dinosaur Finger Puppets
What Skills Can Your Little Ones Learn?
For a simple game, there’s actually quite a lot of skills that can be learnt and practiced!
With this dinosaur color matching game your little ones can develop:
- Color recognition practice – they will need to look closely at the egg and spot colors, to ensure that they are pairing the dinosaurs with the correct eggs.
- Fine motor skills – as they’ll need to be able to pick up the eggs, and hand-eye coordination and hand control as they ensure they are placing them with the right dinosaur.
- Speech and language development – If you make sure you are getting them to say the colors when they are matching, it will help the color names become embedded as they associate the name of the color with what it looks like. You can also ask them questions – what else do you know that is green? Can you see anything else in the room which is pink? Where is it? This kind of questioning will keep them engaged and is great for language development as they describe what they are thinking and can see.
- Patience and persistence – They’ll have to carry on even if they find it tricky at first.
Who’d have thought such a simple game can help your children develop so many skills – that’s the power of play!
(DISCLAIMER It can also be a great way to keep them occupied when you need to get the tea ready or do any of the hundreds of other jobs that just seem to constantly need doing.)
How To Prepare This Dinosaur Color Matching Game
Firstly, download it by clicking on the download box at the bottom of the page.
Then, print it out on to paper or card.
Next, cut the pieces out carefully.
There’s 12 dinosaur cards and 12 matching eggs.
I’d advise laminating them after as it will keep them nice if want to use them again.
Now you’re all set and ready to play!
Some Tips to get Some Extra Language Development In
I mentioned above that these kinds of games can be great for language development as well as color recognition.
Talking about what they can see while they’re playing is always great.
Ask them to think about the colors. What colors can you see? What else in the room is that color? Do you know any animals that have that color on them somewhere?
Ask them about the shapes. What shapes are the dinosaurs and spots made up of? What else do you know that is that shape?
Talking about shapes can be great to enhance their early math skills as well!
Which dinosaur is the tallest? Which one do you think would be the strongest? – There’s loads you can ask them…
This kind of questioning will keep them engaged and make them think more about what they are doing. It’s also awesome for language development as you ask them to describe the dinosaurs.
Don’t let them get away with ‘big’ or ‘happy’; teach them some words they might not know like ‘enormous’, ‘gigantic’ and ‘delighted’.
Later, you could ask them to describe pictures of dinosaurs in a book. You’ll be surprised how often they use these new words!
I hope you and your little ones enjoy this dinosaur color matching game!
