{matchy matchy}

Inspired by all the memory games I showed you the other day, I made this little animal matching game for Tilly. It's sort of cheating -- rather than make the whole thing myself, I simply made a board to go with a Clothkits Noah's Ark that I used to play with as a child.

What a relief to not have to make new animals! And it's sort of lovely to turn one toy into two toys. 

Maybe you've got a similar set of animals that could double as game pieces? Or, it could be fun to use household objects and have more of a scavenger hunt game -- make a game board that has spots for a fork, a hairbrush, a banana, the TV remote!

To make it was simply a case of drawing around each animal onto fabric (I used fabrics that roughly matched the colour of the animal, to make matching a little easier), cutting them out and sewing them onto a square of white linen.

Then, to increase the future educational value, I added freezer-paper-stenciled animal names.

Here's the board:

And here it is with all the animals in place:

Yes, there was quite a discussion about how to say 'zebra'. We're going to have one poor little confused baby when it comes to the letter 'z'.

The sheep seems to be Tilly's favourite. I wonder if all those grey fluff lines remind her of the sheepskin she can't sleep without.

The crocodile is Bella's favourite -- I always seem to be pulling him out from her jaws. Luckily, tooth marks only seem to give him more character.

Tilly was very excited by the whole thing...

...for a few seconds. And then off she went to tip over the furniture, empty cupboards, and rip magazines apart. 

How lovely that putting the game away is as simple as loading the animals back onto the ark.

I've got a feeling this'll be perfect if we ever have forty days of rain.

{inspiration: memory games}

There are some gorgeous designs for memory games around at the moment, from big bright animal versions for little children to personalised photo versions that serve as a fun way to look back at years past. Felt, cotton, wooden blocks, fancy Liberty prints... there's a medium for everyone. 

This beautiful game by Treefall Designs will help baby to recognise shapes, animals, and colours.

Lily's game at Block-a-day, using blocks affixed with favourite family photos, is a special way to celebrate shared moments. And we have no shortage of photographs around here...

The Student Teacher strikes again with this colourful game, made from wool felt and squares of patterned fabric. Plus, it's chewable, so would last more than five minutes in our house.

Moolka has a sweet wooden set to buy, which could easily be reproduced with wooden tiles and a bit of paint.

No Big Dill has another way to use your family photos in the game -- printing them onto transfer paper and ironing them onto fabric blocks.



And a sweet, simpler version from Just Enough Style (via Naptime Crafters), with clear shapes and bright colours for little minds. This one could be whipped up in a single afternoon, I bet.

Decisions, decisions. I'm not putting any pressure on myself to have a game of our own ready for Tilly's birthday (seriously, how many hand-sewn presents does one baby need?) but am letting the possibilities fester for a little while before jumping in.

Which one strikes your fancy?