Concentration
Toddlers practice paying attention to whether picture cards show the same image or the same color as part of a matching game played with minimal caregiver guidance.
Be Prepared: This activity is for toddlers who readily participated in Option 2. Limit the activity to five or fewer toddlers so you can provide guidance as needed. Although the activity emphasizes minimal caregiver assistance, it is important for each toddler to experience success in some aspect of a matching game. The egg and bird picture cards for this activity are described in the Be Prepared section of Option 1. There are six cards in one set.
Invite up to five toddlers to play a matching game. Show and encourage toddlers to describe the cards, focusing first on image (egg or bird) and then color, as suggested in Option 1. Expand toddlers’ descriptions by emphasizing how cards are the same and how cards are different. Remind toddlers that in a matching game we put together cards that are the same.
Explain that we will play two matching games. First we will match by the picture. We will put together cards that show an egg and put together cards that show a bird. Then we will match by color. We will put together cards that show the same color. Explain that you will watch and help if someone asks for help. You also will help each toddler get ready for the second matching game (focused on color). Urge toddlers to take their time. We can finish a matching game at different times. We are not in a race.
Provide each toddler with a set of the six cards in a stack, face down. Encourage toddlers to begin the first matching game (putting together eggs and birds).
Serve as an attentive observer. When a toddler is done matching cards by image, quietly help him/her put the cards into a stack in front of him/her, face down. Remind the toddler that now he/she is to put together cards that show the same color. Avoid drawing attention to a toddler’s completion of a matching game.
Experiences in sorting and matching different types of items are offered as Cognitive activities in the ELM Curriculum. Sorting and matching tasks involve concentration skills that also receive focused support in Self-Regulation activities. For example, support for paying close attention to characteristics of different pictures was offered in Block 16 (Self-Regulation).
A self-regulation challenge of the current activity is to focus on one of two features of a picture at one time. See Extra Support tips for ideas of how to help a toddler be successful with this challenge.
If a toddler finds it too challenging to focus on one feature (image or color) of a picture card in Option 2, offer the set of picture cards used in Block 16’s Self-Regulation activity (sea animals) or a set of picture cards that differ by one feature only. Providing an opportunity for success with a less challenging set of cards is far better than allowing a toddler to think that he/she cannot manage and also enjoy a matching game with picture cards.
Option 3 calls for each toddler to be on his/her own timeline; each toddler begins a second matching game (by color) when the first matching game (by image) is done. Most likely your help will be needed in putting cards in a stack in the transition from the first to the second matching game. It is best if you become aware of this transition by watching each toddler’s work and not encouraging toddlers to announce when they are done with one game and ready for another. Announcements of completion may distract other toddlers from concentrating on the cards and also might foster inappropriate competition.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: see activity description
Set out several sets of materials for toddlers to sort and match. Examples: smaller and larger cardboard blocks, toy cars and toy trucks, toy plates and toy cups. You may wish to provide placemats to designate areas for putting together items that are the same. Describe and demonstrate how to sort and match the items. Toddlers may have their own ideas about what items go together. Talk with toddlers about their ideas and actions.
Materials Needed: see activity description
Preschool-age children may enjoy participating in any of the activity options. Offer a mobile infant several small, age-appropriate toys to hold and manipulate while watching toddlers participate in the activity options.
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