Finding a pair of matching socks to wear, distinguishing the value of one coin from another, fitting the pieces of a puzzle together, completing a maze or dot-to-dot puzzle, discriminating between b and p on a page, or 6 and 9, or + and x – all of these tasks require the individual to use visual discrimination.
Visual discrimination is the ability to differentiate objects based on differences and similarities in size, shape, form, colour or position. And it is critically important to children as they learn reading, writing and mathematics. Fortunately it is a skill that can be learned or strengthened with opportunities for practice, and one fun way to develop visual discrimination with children is through matching games!
This fun, free memory matching game is a little different to the traditional version of matching two identical picture cards. Instead our Monster Match involves matching each bright, beautiful monster with his or her shadow card! This adds an additional level of challenge to the visual discrimination skills required to successfully play the game.
Plus, you’ll also find three other great visual discrimination activities below to try with your Monster Shadow Matching Game cards.
How to Play Concentration/Memory
Shuffle the cards well and spread them face down across the table.
Players take turns to turn over two cards, searching for the matching monster and shadow pairs. If the cards selected are a match, the player keeps the matching pair and takes another turn. If they are not the same, the cards are turned back over in the same location and play moves to the next player.
Once all cards have been matched, the player with the most pairs wins the game.
Other Games to Play with Your Monster Shadow Match Cards
I Spy: Place the coloured monster cards face up on the table. Mentally choose a monster (don’t tell your child which you have chosen) and give a verbal I Spy clue to describe that monster, for example, “I Spy a monster that has six legs and is wearing a bow tie.” Your child must find the card depitcting the correct monster. Continue by giving an I Spy clue for another monster picture card.
Monster sort: Using just the coloured monster cards, invite your child to sort the cards into groups. Ask your child about their sorting criteria and then count how many monsters are in each group. Then ask them to sort the monsters in another way. There are a number of ways the cards can be sorted – by colour, number of eyes, number of legs, number of teeth, wings vs no wings, etc.
Make a similarities train: Using just the coloured monster cards, shuffle the deck and deal the cards evenly between two players. Decide who will go first. That person selects a monster card from his/her hand and places it face up to the left hand side of the play space. The next player selects and places down a monster card that has just a similar identifiable attribute that is the same as the monster on the preceding card. For example, the first card played might be the blue monster with horns. Then the second player might play the green monster with horns. Play returns to the first player and they place down the green sluglike monster (the similar attribute – they are both green). Continue taking turns to add a monster to the trail of cards, identifying the similar feature each time, until all cards are played.
Printing Your Monster Shadow Matching Game
Click here to download: Monster Shadows Matching Game. Save the PDF to your computer. Open the PDF and print the pages you require. When printing, select “Fit to printable area” (or similar) to ensure the page fits with your printer type and local paper size (these have been created at A4 size). I suggest printing onto card stock or matte photo paper.
The printable includes a printed backing paper. To use the backing page, turn the printed alphabet card pages over and place them back into the printer to print the background onto the other side – note, this is optional, if your cardstock is thick enough you may choose not to print the background.
Laminate the printed cards for durability.
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Please note: All Childhood 101 printables are for personal use only, you may not use any part of this content for commercial purposes-that includes selling the document, giving it away to promote your business or website, or printing the file to sell. You may not share, loan or redistribute these documents. Teachers may use multiple copies for students in their own classroom.
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
