I made each card with the same kind of stickers but varied them from number to number. Even so, since I used stickers we had lying around, we have a plethora of butterflies and flowers. I think First Son already memorized which stickers go with which number, though, without counting. Perhaps it would have been better to use all the same stickers. It's a great game for First Daughter, though, as she really has to think about the number and count the stickers each time.
If you intend to make your own matching game, I suggest you check over the cards before playing with the game. We quickly realized I had two cards with eight stickers and no card with six stickers. Now the kids know even adults can make mistakes when counting. (We also lost the game the very first day. First Daughter picked it up, put all the cards in a bag and put them somewhere safe. Very safe. It took me two weeks to find them again.)
In the same vein, I finally got around to making an alphabet matching game. Brandy posted over a year ago about helping her daughter learn that capital letters and lowercase letters are actually the same letter. She used a matching game which I modified slightly.
I used Excel (because I love it and I wanted nice neat boxes to cut out) and fiddled around with the fonts until I found something I thought worked well with our handwriting book. I made one version without the underline and quickly realized it would be better if it was easier to see which side was the top for each letter so I made a second improved version (yet to be cut out and laminated). Here's the file I made:
Alphabet Matching Game
The important thing in both games, of course, is that I was able to use my new laminator. I love it! (I realize I am openly admitting in a single post to loving both Excel and my laminator. I'm also an organizing and planning fiend. Now you know the real reason we decided to homeschool.)
By the way, First Son knows all his numbers and his letters, but he loves anything I call a game. That's good, because it's more fun for First Daughter if he plays. Until they start fighting over who found the match for the number 1 (the single LarryBoy sticker) or the match for the number 4 (four Dora stickers).
