Shape & Color Matching activity.
Benefits - Shapes, colors, motor development, visual acuity, documentation/display and, confidence.
Supplies needed - 2 pieces of paper, pencil, markers (any coloring utensil) and, scissors.
Age level - 12+ months.
Are your kids showing interest in learning shapes but you don’t want to spend money on something that may not be that good of an investment or want them staring into a screen? Why not knock out a couple of other things while providing an interesting activity that is hands on and handmade?!
This handmade matching activity not only involves shapes and colors but motor development, visual acuity, documentation/display and confidence. Now that’s a lot of benefits to come from one singular activity that takes maybe 30 minutes to create… with stuff you have lying around……….. that’s sounding pretty good.
Definitions & Resources
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Motor development is the ability to move one’s body and manipulate objects within the environment, involves improvements in strength, flexibility, endurance and eye-hand coordination and includes gross-motor(walking/throwing) and fine-motor(pick up toys/tie shoes). (Heward et al., 2009).
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Visual Acuity is the ability to clearly distinguish forms or discriminate details (Heward et al., 2009)
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According to Julianne Wurm (Working in the Reggio Way: A Beginner’s Guide for American Teachers) she states “ Documentation can serve to illuminate the thinking, a change in thinking that occurred, what was learned or not learned, the evolution of the behavior, questioning, maturity, responses, and opinions.” (Wurm, 2016)
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-Heward, W., Alber-Morgan, S., & Konrad, M. (2009). Chapter 14 . In Motor Development (11th ed., pp. 477–477). essay, Pearson.
-Heward, W., Alber-Morgan, S., & Konrad, M. (2009). Chapter 10. In Blindness and Low vision (11th ed., pp. 324–325). essay, Pearson.
-Wurm, J. (2016). Chapter 8. In Displaying and Documenting Children’s Work (pp. 123–123). essay, NAEYC. -
Exceptional Children - An Introduction to Special Education.
Nurturing Creativity- An Essential Mindset for Young Children's Learning.
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/books/nurturing-creativity