Color Matching with Clothespins

 
 
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(E was 26 months old.)



You’ll need:

  • Clothespins. {Make sure the mechanism isn’t too hard to work for your toddler.}
  • Colored paper or colored stickers.
  • Piece of cardboard.
  • Cutting knife, scissors, hole punch or similar.
  • Glue.



 

How to make a Color Matching Game with Clothespins:

  • Glue (or stick) colored paper to clothespins.
  • Glue (or stick) paper in the same colors near the edges of a piece of cardboard.
  • Have your toddler pin the clothespins next to or on the matching colors on the cardboard.



Photos:

 
 
 
 


 

How it worked for us:

This is even easier to make than the Bottle Cap Color Matching Game. There’s no need to have more than small colored areas on the gameboard {although you can make the areas bigger if you prefer and don’t mind the extra work in getting it all to line up properly}, so I simply punched out stars to glue on both the clothespins and piece of cardboard.

The two sets I made here are my second and third, btw, so I was able to incorporate some of the lessons I learned from the first try. This time, I glued the colored stars to both sides of the clothespins to avoid confusion, and I used ModPodge because in my first attempt, where I used regular glue, the stars kept falling off the clothespins and cardboard after a short time.

E loved my first attempt at making this game right away, even when she was just clipping the clothespins on the cardboard without paying attention to the colors at first. {She just can’t resist a clothespin clipping opportunity 😉 } When I gave her the shiny new version, she was just as excited as the first time she saw it, and went right to work on it.

I made the smaller version just for variety and to fit more easily into a busy bag.


 

What I learned from it:

  • Clothespins are great for playing while learning (and learning while playing).
  • Put the colored areas on both sides of the clothespin.
  • Use some good glue to keep the stars on the clothespins. {You can always laminate the cardboard to keep the stars from coming off.}



 

The idea:

I saw this on a website well before I knew about Pinterest but I’m sure there are many examples around. I love the simplicity of making this and the fine motor practice and hand-strengthening benefits of using clothespins. And of course E just loves clothespins.

 

 

 

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