Quick & Easy Visual Discrimination Cards

Visual discrimination is a child's ability to identify differences in visual images, and it is imperative to learning to read, write, and do just about anything across the curriculum.  A great way to help youngsters practice this important skill is by encouraging them to find matching images within a group of similar images.  Inspired by an idea I found at 3dinosaurs.com (you can see the original post here), I made two sets of visual discrimination cards (quite the catchy name, eh?) for L and I to play with.

First I took a sheet of sturdy card stock and cut it in half. Each of these halves would be the large card for each game.  Then I quartered a second sheet of card stock to serve as my smaller card.

I made a set of three smaller cards to go with each larger card. I put only three or four stickers on each of the smaller cards.  The idea is to point to one of the stickers on the smaller card, then encourage L to find the same sticker on the bigger card.  Limiting the number of stickers on the smaller cards makes it more likely that L will be successful in finding the match on the bigger card without frustration.

I covered all of the cards with contact paper, just for the sheer hope that this will help them last a while.  For our purposes, this will be an adult-led activity, but for older kids this could easily be done independently and is still a great way to practice visual discrimination.

This entire process took me a little over half an hour and will be an excellent addition to our busy bags. I also plan to make a set using pictures of our family!

Boredom Busters: Busy Bags

Lately I've been finding myself in more and more situations where L and I are stuck waiting (tax prep, the mobile phone store, picking up Dad at work) and I'm finding it increasingly hard to keep this busy and curious 18-month-old engaged and happy in a developmentally appropriate manner. (What, you mean it's not okay to let my kid climb the display case full of iPhone covers?)  I always try to grab a toy or two on the way out the door and we nearly never leave the house without a stash of books, but baby girl is getting bigger now and stuff loses novelty pretty quickly. The days of my kid sitting quietly in her infant carrier and finding my pinkie finger good for hours of laugh riot entertainment are long over, so it's time to get creative. My solution: toddler busy bags!

I just ran out to the store, picked up some inexpensive pencil cases (the flat kind with zippers and a clear window) and filled them with stuff I already had around the house. The trick is to use things your kid doesn't see on a daily basis (adds to that precious sense of novelty) and only bring them out when you're forced to play the waiting game. They're also fabulous on long car/airplane trips, or when visiting folks who won't have a lot of kid-friendly gear around.  


Some ideas for stuffing those bags:
     *Finger puppets
     *Small notepads with colored pencils, stickers, etc.
     *Foam letters and numbers
     *Peg dolls
     *Pipe cleaner segments
     *Links
     *Small plastic animals/people
     *Picture cards


You get the idea. Really you can stuff just about anything into these super convenient (some might even say magical! No? Just me?) bags. You can also alter the contents to make them more appropriate for older children as well.

Handy dandy busy bag storage - placed up on a high shelf where the tot won't see

Please leave any additional ideas for busy bag stuffers in the comments section. I'm always looking for new and exciting ways to engage my kid!