How to make a simple matching game for preschoolers to practice colors, letters, numbers, and more.

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A Simple Matching Game for Preschoolers
What You'll Find on This Page
Matching games are perfect for learning letters, numbers, shapes, and more! This week my four-year-old and I made this simple matching game to go along with the Virtual Book Club for Kids book, The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond. The Kiss Box by Bonnie Verburg is another wonderful book for this theme.
Materials
- Card stock
- Heart Punch
- Sharpie pen or other marker
- Pencil
How to Make this Matching Game
This game is super easy to make!
- Punch out hearts
- Write letters or numbers, or draw shapes on the hearts. You could also write sight words, or the names of family members as an early literacy activity.
- Match uppercase to lowercase, shapes to the same shapes, or numbers to dots or other countable objects (see below for detailed suggestions).

My preschooler wanted to help, so I actually wrote the letters in pencil and she traced them. This tracing is wonderful for fine motor development! You don’t have to use a Sharpie pen; that is what we had out and so of course that was what Anna wanted to use.

More Ways to Use This Preschool Matching Game
We made uppercase to lowercase matching cards this time, but I know we will be making more cards! Here are a few ideas:
- Match numbers to cards with dots on them.
- Match family names to photos that are glued to cards.
- Match pattern blocks to outlines on hearts.
- Match pictures to starting letter cards.
What other ways can you think of to use these cards?
More Fun Heart Themed Learning for Kids
As always, my co-hosts came up with some wonderful heart-themed learning activities this week! Check them out – I also threw in a couple from this site that I thought you might like:
- Raining Hearts Name Craft from Still Playing School
- Prewriting Valentine’s Day Pack from Kori at Home
- Broken Hearts Number Bonds from Rainy Day Mum
- Love Heart Number Line from Adventures and Play
- The Day It Rained Hearts Algorithm – Coding for Kids from JDaniel4’s Mom
- Preschool STEM: Valentine’s Tower from Preschool Powol Packets
- Raining Hearts Viscosity Experiment from Inspiration Laboratories
- Easy Heart Shaped Pancakes from The Educators’ Spin On It
- Kindness Party for Kids from Toddler Approved
- Hearts Sensory Bin from The Moments at Home
- Heart Themed Sensory Board from Mama Smiles
- Flannel Board Hearts from Mama Smiles
- The Day It Rained Hearts Process Art from Artsy Momma
- Easy Heart Art Painting from Messy Little Monster
- Felt Hearts to Sew from Mama Smiles
If you are feeling especially ambitious, sew your kids these Color-Me Heart Friends! They are quite easy to make, and ours have seen a lot of play time.
Do you have a heart themed learning activity for children that we should try? How about a heart themed book we need to read? Let me know in the comments. You can also share photos as well as book suggestions and activity ideas on my Facebook page, or tag me on Instagram.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I used to make games like this when the kids were in preschool.
Great game to teach upper and lower case alphabet!
So cute and fun! And her tracing is wonderfully neat.
Another matching you could do is key signatures and/or related minor keys.
Ooh I like that idea!
That looks so fun and ideal for preschoolers
My four-year-old sure loved it!
Sometimes simple activities are the best. I have to give A this idea for her reading classes (she teaches our neighbor to read)
I love that A is teaching your neighbor to read.