Do you ever have the days where you NEED a super simple activity to keep your little one busy just so that you can drink your coffee while it’s still hot? Personally, I am not a fan of reheated coffee, so I end up dumping mine if it gets cold (this drives my husband bananas!). But what could be more enjoyable than savoring each sip of your coffee while your preschooler is not only busy doing her own thing, but learning at the same time? This is where our jelly bean color matching game comes in. The added bonus of jelly beans is the perfect way to convince her that playing with the candy while matching colors and counting is way more fun than distracting you from your coffee.
Coffee with a side of jelly beans? Bring it on!
Color Matching with Jelly Beans
You will just need a couple of minutes to set up this activity. Grab these supplies:
- jelly beans (colorful ones!)
- Do-A-Dot markers
- white cardstock or even construction paper
- scissors
Simply cut out an Easter egg shape from the white paper. I made the oval egg shape as big as I could to fit as much room as the piece of cardstock would allow. This let me add more colors to each egg that I made for my preschoolers.
I am a huge fan of Do-A-Dot markers! If you don’t have them, consider ordering them from Amazon. You can also find them in craft stores.
Dot the same colors of the jelly beans that you have all over the egg. You may want to space the colorful dots apart a little bit so that if any of the jelly beans roll, they do not end up rolling on to another color.
If you don’t have the dot markers, you could also use crayons or markers to make your circles on the egg, but I promise, you will love the Do-A-Dot markers!
Wait a minute for the dots to dry on the egg, so the jelly beans don’t make the colors run all over the egg!
Now it’s Time to Play!
Add more jelly beans than needed to fill the egg into a bowl. Invite your child to come and play!
The object of the game is to match each jelly bean to the same color dot on the egg.nbsp&;
When introducing the color matching activity, use a lot of non-examples. This means, asking things like, “Should I put the red jelly bean on the…purple dot?” Or, “I know, I’ll put the green jelly bean on the orange dot!” You’ll get an excited, “Noooo!” as a response for sure. This will help you make sure that your child understands how to play. This will also help your coffee situation when you sit back down to enjoy your cup without having to get up again!
After the each dot on the egg is full, have your child count the jelly beans. She can count the total number, and then she can count each individual color too!
And if you’re a really cool mom, you can add simple math and subtraction into the activity. This can be done by asking, “How many purple jelly beans will you have left if you eat one?”
Now What?
Now that your coffee is finished, and your little one is happily playing with jelly beans, check out the other ways to use those Do-A-Dot markers!
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