Playdough is an ideal way to fire up your child’s imagination.  It is easy to model and develops fine motor skills, coordination and confidence. This game with its hands-on approach to learning about shapes, will be particularly good for engaging boys.

What you need:

• 1 x large lump of playdough
• 4 x different shaped cutters
• 8 x cups

Number of players:
2+

Activity:

Cut your playdough into two each of four different shapes.

So for example: you should have 2 x circles, 2 x squares, 2 x triangles and 2 x stars.

Hide each shape underneath a cup. The aim of the game is to find the pairs.

The child lifts two cups. If the shapes match: mission accomplished, put them aside. If they don’t match, put the cup back down and try again until all the shapes are matched up and there are no more cups to choose from.

Notes:

• You can play this with as many people and as many different shapes as you like.
• Use disposable party paper cups if you don’t have eight matching cups in your cupboard.
• To make it even more challenging you could add different colours to the pairing options.