Sandpaper & Felt Shape Matching

This was not a planned project at all.  My daughter and I were painting Easter eggs in the playroom when I saw all the materials for this all together in my closet and inspiration hit. This is a simple and quick shape matching activity but it also has elements of fine motor, sensory and the carrots give it just a touch of an Easter craft. You could do any shape to fit whatever theme you are learning about any time of year, another reason I think this is such a great shape matching activity.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some sandpaper, felt, yarn, crayons, and scissors.
2. Start by drawing your carrots with crayons. In my experience, using marker on sandpaper is a bad idea. The sandpaper bits end up in the felt tip and the markers are never the same again. Crayons are much more forgiving and vibrant.
3. Cut your felt and yarn to size. Do not worry about an exact match. If exact means a lot to you reverse the order and use the felt shapes as a template and trace around them so they are exactly the same size. Either way your child will love it.
4. Invite your little one to come explore the sandpaper. Talk a bit about the texture by asking questions and /or labeling what they are doing.
5. Time to match up the shapes. Talk about how soft the felt is too if there is a natural chance to do it. If your child not at all interested in exploring the textures, don’t sweat it. Follow their lead.
6. I had my daughter remove the shape after putting it down to see how “sticky” the sandpaper was. She was fascinated that her fingers didn’t stick but the felt did.
7. Add the yarn. This part of the shape matching was tricky but it was supposed to be. Just remember to walk the line between challenging and frustrating. She matched up a few and moved on. Keep it fun, not a test of fine motor skills. Use this shape matching activity around the holiday, but also throughout the year for fun.

Books About Carrots

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss is a rare gem, it has been in print for over 60 years and has delighted generations . If you aren’t familiar with the story, a little boy plants a carrot seed and everyone tells him “It won’t come up.” this doesn’t stop the little boy from patiently taking care of this little seed, that eventually grows into a giant carrot. The message is a universal one of sticking to your guns even when everyone tells that you should give up. My son loved the story the simple pictures that will bring you back to your own childhood, at least they did for me. A true classic.

Coco The Carrot by Steven Salerno is an absurd tale of adventure, and I loved it. Coco is a carrot who dreams of a life larger than the vegetable drawer. She dreams big and goes for it. Unlike most carrots that end up in stew, she becomes a famous hat designer and is the toast of Paris with her Monkey companion, Anton. If you are scratching your head but oddly intrigued, you will like this book. My son sat through the long book with me, giggling and telling me “Carrots can’t do that?!” more than once. I loved it because it is so absurd that she is a carrot, but the story itself is about going for your dreams, hitting bumps in the road and realizing that your dreams shift and change and that’s OK.  There is great bits of humor for the adults as well, something I always appreciate!

Carrot Soup by John Segal is a cute book about planting a garden, in this case carrots, tending it and then reaping the rewards. or maybe not. Rabbit carefully planned out his garden and took care of it. But when he tried gathering all the carrots, they vanished!  Throughout the pages there are hints to where the carrots might be, your child will likely figure it out before Rabbit does. My son liked this book and I loved reading it with him. He found it rather exasperating that the Rabbit couldn’t figure out the mystery!