Festive Toddler Sorting & Matching Activities

Using colorful manipulatives is a great way to learn about colors, numbers and sizes, as well as being an awesome fine motor skill workout!

We were kindly gifted the Plus-Plus Big and the Plus-Plus Learn to Build Set by Plus-Plus for purpose of review. All opinions and images are our own and completely genuine. This post contains affiliate links.

Using manipulatives is a great way for toddlers to learn about colors, numbers and size. The Plus-Plus pieces enabled my 20 month old daughter to be hands-on with these festive-themed sorting and matching activities. We like using Plus-Plus pieces because they come in two sizes and a really fun variety of colors. There is also the added bonus that they are great for building creations with too! Make sure you are present when using small pieces such as these with younger children.

I set up four simple invitations to sort and match activities using large pieces of paper, markers, and dot markers. The idea is to keep them simple and open-ended to encourage further exploration.

Turn On the Christmas Lights: Size and Color Sort

Preparation: using black marker draw two rows of Christmas lights wire. Then use the dot markers to make various colored lights (just a few along the top and well spaced-out). Write big next to the top line, and small next to the bottom line.

Play: encourage your child to add the big Plus-Plus pieces to the top wire to make the lights 'turn on', matching the dot marker colors as they go. Then show how the bottom wire is for the small pieces and repeat the process. Repeat color and size vocabulary frequently.

Bauble Decorating: Color Match

Preparation: draw a selection of baubles hanging down on the paper. Use markers to add colored Plus-Plus shapes on each bauble.

Play: show your toddler how to color match the pieces to the markings on each bauble. This activity is great for working those fine motor skills as your child will need to manipulate the pieces into the correct position.

Button Up the Snowmen: Number and Color Match

Preparation: Draw several snowmen on the page, each wearing a hat. Inside the hats write a different number in a different colored marker.

Play: see if your child can recognize the color on each snowman's hat and then help them with the numbers. Your toddler may not yet be able to count, but it is still great exposure by talking about the numbers and helping them put the correct number of buttons on each snowman.

Make the Tinsel Shine: Color & Size Match

Preparation: use black marker to draw two Christmas Trees, one small and one big. Then use colored markers to make lines of tinsel around the tree.

Play: decorate the small tree with the small Plus-Plus pieces, matching the tinsel colors, and do the same for the large tree.

These four activities took less than ten minutes to set up but kept my toddler engaged and learning for a considerable amount of time. You can re-use the set-up several times. As your toddler gains confidence they will look for less support from you and may even start to adapt the activities.

A great extension is to see if they would like to help design their own matching or sorting activity. For example, they might like to use the dot markers to decorate a Christmas tree. The Plus-Plus pieces can then be used to color match. This can be a great way to involve older siblings too!

Which activity would your toddler love best! My little one always wants to turn on those colorful lights with the Plus-Plus first!