Matching bricks
Having fun sorting and matching bricks together.
You will need
Variety of bricks, two of each type.
Bag or cardboard box.
Skills you will be engaging
Social - sharing ideas, taking turns, copying.
Emotional - having fun, curiosity, feeling calm.
Cognitive - sorting, matching.
Creative - discovering different ways of matching.
Physical - connecting bricks in different ways.
How to play
Sort the bricks into 2 groups of matching bricks.
Put one group of bricks into a bag or box.
Place the other group of bricks in front of you and your child.
Ask your child to take a brick from the bag and ask "can you find a brick that goes with that one?"
Talk about how they think the bricks match.
Celebrate by connecting the matching bricks.
Keep taking turns, finding match for every brick.
Make a tower from the bricks.
Talk while you play
Take a few moments to watch what your child is doing. Notice and comment on what is happening, e.g. "Now it's your turn."
You might like to ask your child some questions, e.g. "Shall we make a tower with our bricks?", "That's interesting, how do those bricks match?"
Adapt the activity
Feel free to adapt the activity to meet your child's individual needs. The important thing is that everyone is relaxed and having fun, don't worry if you don't follow the instructions perfectly.
Make it easier
Use fewer bricks.
Work together to find the matching bricks.
You choose a brick and give your child three bricks to choose from to match it with.
You could try tapping the bricks together when they match.
Let's do a challenge
Let your child choose which bricks to use for the activity.
Describe the brick from the bag without showing it to the other person.
Use more bricks.
Use bricks of the same colour and match them by shape or number of studs instead.
Match all the bricks as fast as you can. See if you can beat your fastest time!
Use non-dominant hand to pick up the matching brick.
Including others
Add more players with their own set of bricks.
Play in pairs.