Spring is almost upon us, so why not welcome in the warmer weather (and probably lots of rain) with a fun little spring flower matching game your toddlers and preschoolers are bound to love.
It’s a simple game where your little ones will need to match the correct flower tile to the one on the board. But your children will need to have an eye for detail as some of the colors and flower shapes can be pretty similar.
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!
This spring toddler game will give your children some matching practice and force them to look closely at color, shape and pattern – which will help them to develop important early math skills.
They can also practice counting if you encourage them to count all the flowers, or just the flowers which are red, or only the ones which have pointy petals. How many have pointy petals and are red? If you play the memory game I mention below, there’s even more chances to get some counting practice in!
It can also help with fine motor skills, as they’ll need to be able to grasp the pieces, and hand-eye coordination and hand control as they ensure they are placing them in the correct spot.
If they find it tricky at first, it may also help them learn patience and persistence – great life skills.
Who’d have thought such a simple game can help your children develop so many skills – that’s the power of play!
Other spring printables that you may want to check out:
- Spring Flower Color Matching Game For Toddlers
- Simple Spring Flower Tracing Worksheet
- Flower Counting Playdough Mats
- Butterfly Color Matching Game
So on those drizzly days, when you don’t feel like going out and jumping in puddles, why not bring a little brightness inside where it’s dry and play – knowing that they’re developing some important skills while they’re having fun.
How To Prepare
The Game
Firstly, download it by clicking on the download box at the bottom of the page.
Not a member yet? Don’t worry – you can try this awesome activity for free by signing up below!
Then, print it out on to paper or card.
Next, cut the pieces out carefully. I’d advise laminating them after as I’m sure you’ll want to use them again.
Now you’re all set and ready to play!
Other Things You Could Do with this Spring Flower Matching game
If your little ones have mastered the original spring game you can take it to the next level by printing the second page with the flower tokens again so you’ll now have two sets.
That way, you’ll also be able to play a spring flower memory game.
I’m sure you know how to play this game (sometimes called pairs), but in case you don’t it’s pretty easy:
- First, shuffle all the cards together
- Then lay them all face down in neat rows
- Starting with the youngest player, take turns turning two cards over
- If they match, you can keep them and have another go. If they don’t your turn is over and play moves to the the next player.
- Play continues in this fashion until the last pair is collected
- Count up all cards (a good chance to get a bit of counting practice in) and whoever has the most wins!
This game is great for developing memory and concentration skills.
If you’d like to make the game even more challenging you could combine it with another of these toddler matching game so there’s even more tiles:
Talking about what they can see while you’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?
Ask them about the shapes. What shapes are the flowers made up of? What else do you know that is that shape?
Ask them which one of spring flowers is their favourite and why.
This kind of questioning will keep them engaged and make them think more about what they are doing. It’s also brilliant for language development as you ask them to describe the flowers.
Don’t let them get away with ‘pretty’ or ‘nice’; teach them some words they might not know like ‘majestic’, ‘luminous’ and ‘radiant’.
Later, you could take them into the garden or park and see if they can describe the flowers they see there. You’ll be surprised how often they use these new words!
I hope you and your little ones enjoy this spring flower matching game!
