As a
former Pre-K teacher I enjoy bringing education into my home. I am constantly
looking for new ways to teach my children without it seeming like a chore. I
want them to enjoy school and love learning as much as I did. I look for way of
turning lessons into games and keeping the games we play fresh and fun. Right
now I am working on teaching my younger son color identification. To help with
this I have created a felt color matching game. He likes to be hands-on {as
most children his age tend to enjoy} and being able to hold and manipulate his
colors helps to solidify his understanding. These DIY felt color matching
lollipops were a huge hit with my children, even my oldest wanted to play with
them!
What you need:
Popsicle
sticks
Paint
in various colors {I used acrylic paint}
Coordinating
felt
Paint brush
Scissors
Sewing machine
How to Make It:
Take
the Popsicle sticks and using the acrylic paint, paint each Popsicle stick one
color front and back. I like to paint both sides to make it easy for the little
ones {no flipping required}. I left one end free from paint in order to write
the name of each color on the end. Set aside to dry.
Next,
take the coordinating felt pieces and using a cup or wine glass trace two
circles on each piece of felt. Using scissors cut out the circles. There should
be two circles for each color.
Place one
felt circle on top of the other and sew around the edges leaving a 1 to 1½ inch
opening at the bottom. This is where the Popsicle stick will go for color
matching purposes. {While I chose to
sew, I am sure you could use hot glue and it would still work. I tend to burn
my fingers with my hot glue gun… so please be careful if you choose to use hot
glue instead of sewing.}
Once
the paint is dry on the Popsicle sticks you are ready to enjoy some color
matching fun! Once the colors have been matched I ask my son to identify them
by name. I am working on teaching colors right now with my youngest so there
are a lot of color matching/identification activities on the horizon. He loves
these games and has requested more of them, so expect to see some more felt
color matching fun in the future.
It is
really inexpensive to make this yourself. I got a bag of Popsicle sticks at the
dollar store and bought the paint for less than a dollar each in the craft
aisle at Walmart. The felt can be bought by the sheet at an arts and craft
stores {for example Joann Fabrics carries sheets of felt} for about $.25 a sheet. Although
that price tends to vary based on the store you go to and the current sale of
the week. I used less than ½ a sheet per color. So I have more than enough left
over for another felt project.
