Language Activities for Toddlers – Object to Picture Matching

The language shelves in a Montessori classroom have a few staples that you will find in the following order:  Nomenclature Basket (just objects), Object to Object Matching, Object to Picture Matching, and Picture to Picture Matching.  These works range from the most concrete — naming an object — to the most abstract — matching pictures that are the same.  I’ve already shared examples of the first two, and L has mastered those and moved on to the third step, Object to Picture Matching.
I took one of the tubes of creatures that I found at Michael’s and took pictures of five of them.  I laminated the pictures and put them on a tray beside a bowl of the corresponding insects.  When L found the tray on her shelf, I showed her how to lay out the cards and find the corresponding insect.  She took to it right away.
As with the earlier works in this category, you can use the Montessori three period lesson to teach your child the names of each object.  In the first period, you simply point to each object and name it.  In the second period, you ask your child, “Where is the _______?”  Once she can correctly point to each object, it is time to move on to the third period.  You ask your child, “What is this?”  You may not be able to do all three periods in the same sitting.  Oftentimes the child needs to have the second period repeated multiple times before she is ready to move on to the third period.

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