3 Backyard Matching Games for Preschoolers

Summer is in full swing and it’s time to have fun with water! This sprinkler shape match activity is a great way to get outside, learn, and stay cool!

My girls LOVE to go outside, and nothing makes me happier then to see them playing in the warm sunshine. We live in Florida and let me tell you the summer days get really hot!

So, I decided this summer we were going to do a lot more activities with water so my sweet girls could have fun and stay cool.

Summer is in full swing and it’s time to have fun with water!  This sprinkler shape match activity is a great way to get outside, learn, and stay cool!

Backyard Matching Games

This sprinkler shape match activity was so easy to set up. It took me about 15 to get everything together and ready to go.

Grace loved it so much she played it several times! She stayed busy and happy for a good 20 minutes. I know you’re excited to get started so here we go!

Materials

  • A piece of paper with shapes on it and a cut out of each shape (below)
  • A sprinkler
  • Laminating machine (You need to laminate this activity so it doesn’t get wet)
Summer is in full swing and it’s time to have fun with water!  This sprinkler shape match activity is a great way to get outside, learn, and stay cool!

Directions

The first thing I did to prepare for this activity was print out a piece of paper with lots of different shapes on it. I made mine on the computer but you could also just draw the shapes on the paper with a crayon or marker. If you want to print yours, you can download a copy below.

Print two copies of each page. You will need to cut the shapes out on the second page so your child can match them to the shapes on the first piece of paper. The most important thing to remember is to laminate the piece of paper with the shapes and the cut-out pieces. This will make sure that they don’t get ruined by the water and you can use it as many times as you want.

Once your pages are prepped, get the sprinkler going and place the cut-out shapes around the sprinkler.  Have your child run through the sprinkler a find a shape then go to the piece of paper with the shapes on it and math the shape. Have them do this until all the shapes have been found and matches!

Summer is in full swing and it’s time to have fun with water!  This sprinkler shape match activity is a great way to get outside, learn, and stay cool!

How did my daughter do with this activity

Grace had so much fun with this activity! She loves to play in the sprinkler and was so excited that she had a game to play.

She was giggling every time she had to find a shape in the sprinkler. It’s so wonderful to hear her giggle and know she is having a great time but also learning.

What is she learning during this activity

  • Shape recognition
  • Matching
  • Fine motor skills
  • Following directions
Summer is in full swing and it’s time to have fun with water!  This sprinkler shape match activity is a great way to get outside, learn, and stay cool!

Extending this activity is so easy

There are so many things that can be done to extend this fun and easy activity.

  • Patterns – draw shapes in a pattern on a piece of paper and have them create a pattern
  • Number recognition – do numbers instead of shapes
  • Alphabet recognition – do the letters of the alphabet instead of shapes

My daughter LOVED this activity and it was so fun to get a little outside water play at the same time! Have your kids do this activity and they’ll stay cool this summer too!

Get your freebie!

To make this activity even easier for you to set up, I’ve created a fun printable you can print, laminate, and get wet. Print one copy of each of the shape pages (one page has shape names, the other doesn’t), two copies of both the numbers and letters. Cut one page apart and leave the other intact. 

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