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Let's match vehicle pictures!
Lots of of children love large construction vehicles and this wee nearly 3 year old is no exception. He was very excited to show me his T-Shirt exclaiming "Look at my digger!" "Wow - that's a colourful T-Shirt. I've seen you wear that before. You love construction vehicles don't you? Do you know, I have some matching cards that we can use a magnifying glass with. Shall I show you where we keep the cards?" Together the child and I went to the shelf where the cards are kept.
At Montessori Johnsonville we have all the materials out for the children to use, and they are always in the same place so they know where to find them. I had just replaced some dinosaur matching cards with these construction cards and the boy was very keen to see what we did with these cards. Children have such a good eye for small details. He had to look through the magnifying glass to find the tiny construction vehicles and then match them to the larger pictures.
I sat with him whilst he worked with these, but pretty soon he almost forgot that I was there as he was so absorbed in what he was doing. When he had finished matching, he sat back and smiled. He repeated the activity several more times (which we encourage) and then returned the materials back to the shelf where they went so someone else could have a turn.
Linking learning to the child's interests supports their concentration, their independence and their self motivation. He returned to this game again later in the afternoon, and the following day too.