Matching Cards

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During the sensitive period for language, children have a keen sense of awareness and are drawn to the art of visual discrimination. Anyone with a small child can attest to this as children often seem to follow their own schedule making their way from point A to point B. Sometimes we call this "distractability" or "puttering along".  The truth is however, when a child stops to watch the ladybug crawl along the fence as we hurry arrive to an appointment on time, the child is in fact overcome by a sense of awareness and visual perception. 
As Montessorians, we strive to witness this type of sensitivity in a child and then set forth on our mission to support this moment in development by any means. For this reason, Matching Games are a wholesome and developmentally appropriate material for any classroom language area. Matching games are easy to make and often most fun when they include an aspect of familiarity. 
Matching games can be done as sets of cards a child matches in pairs, or a printed board with cards to match. Matching games can be simple to complex and should include elements of mystery as well. 

Here is an example of matching cards made this summer from photographs taken in the community garden. If this can be done with photos of flowers and veggies, imagine the possibilities...
 Feel free to print and prepare these for your language shelf. Happy Matching!



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