We love the children’s book, Aliens In Underpants! Earlier in the year we shared how we learned about meteors and recreated a scene from this book in our back garden. Now that the weather is cooling down, you may be looking for something to keep your children occupied indoors, and this Underpants Matching Game could be just the thing!
This matching game is simple for toddlers, but you can make it more challenging for older children as well.
I had my husband help in make the props for this game, and his sense of humour snuck in. He and tristan were to cut pairs of underwear shapes from various pieces of paper. There were some pairs that were the same colour so they put some designs on them to add an extra element to the game. We laminated the pieces so they would last longer in small hands.
To play this game in the most simple fashion we took a few pairs of underpants and put them on the floor as we sat around them. The children took turns finding a matching pair of underpants. As they become more competent at matching, we added more pairs of underpants to the pile at the beginning. The day I took these photos (a year after making the game) it was a lovely fall day so we moved outside to play.
We made our own clothesline by stringing some string around two chairs and using a mix of regular and mini-sized clothespins.
We used lots of praise and encouragement as they were learning how this game worked.
To enhance this game for older children, or as your little one grows and learns, you can hide the underpants around the room and have an element of hide and seek to it.
For those children who are learning their numbers, letters, or sight words you can use more underpants that look the same, and they have to match up the target words, etc. This is made easy by using a dry-erase marker over the laminated underpants.
If you want to turn this into a race or personal-best competition, set a timer and see how many matching pairs your child can find before the alarm sounds.
Another fun and frugal matching game is to have your children help match socks after you’ve done the laundry…have you tried this?
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Alicia says
That was a very neat game. I remember doing book centered games with my 3K class before leaving to have my now 18 month old. We would have so much fun because they related everything back to the book we read. I am now on the hunt to do games with my 18 month old because she has started the obsession of Netflix and TV! We only turn the TV on 2 hours a day now and she was having withdraws! 🙂 Now I know what we can do, play book centered games. Thanks for this post!
Crystal McClean says
You have the know-how and experience to do it! Awesome! It’s funny how we sometimes have the knowledge but forget to apply it to different situations. I think this week in our home we’ll be doing more fun and games learning and less paper learning to get back to fun and bonding (yet learning at the same time). The fun is just beginning for you at 18 months, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
TheBargainBabe says
lol, aww how cute!!! 🙂
Crystal McClean says
Thank you. It’s a fun game, and even funnier with the underpants hubby made!
Growing Up Madison says
That is so cool and original. I’ve never read that book but sounds delightful. My daughter would be ready for this game in a few months. Thanks for sharing.
Crystal McClean says
It’s such a fun book, and timely with the satellite that is due to hit the earth sometime tonight.
Samantha @Stir the Wonder says
This is hilarious! I think my son would love it! He is very much into aliens & UFOs!
Crystal McClean says
Give it a try! And come back again on Friday when I have another little something we did with this book 😉
Tammy Doiel @creativekkids.com says
That is so funny! I have never read the book, but it must be great.
Crystal McClean says
It’s a cute book. It was fun reading with a group of adults for the first time, but we all got right into it! There are others in the series that we haven’t yet read, but will have to seek out.
Missy Homemaker says
Oh my goodness. That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Love that Superman stopped in to match the underpants ;)One of my kids’ chores is to fold the clothes, so they’ve been matching socks forever. It started as just a way to keep them busy when they were little.
Crystal McClean says
Thanks so much! Our home is full of superheroes- you never know who will arrive each day.
My children also like to help out by folding their own clothes and putting them away-long may it last for us 🙂
Carli says
So cute! My 4 year old loves hide and seek so would love to add that element to it!
Crystal McClean says
Let me know how it goes 🙂
Carli says
Also, I hope you got a chance to share this on Family Fridays Link Up party! If not, its still open til Wednesday!!!!!
Crystal McClean says
Thanks for the invite. I actually just found you this week and linked up a post, but have now linked up this one too 😉
Jill @ Called To Be A Mom says
Crystal, that is definitely a interesting game. I can see that it makes them be very observant to similar things.
Carli says
Thanks for sharing on Family Fridays!!!!
Stephanie @ From the Burbs to the Boonies says
I have never heard of anyone acting out a scene in a book! that is so cool! We may have to do that. And the book sounds really really cute.
Crystal McClean says
It’s so much fun 🙂 I’d really urge you to give it a try with your favourite book!
Adelien says
Hearing the book’s title has made me laughed. I wonder what it is about. Nice matching game ideas. Thanks for sharing.
Julie @Momspective says
You had me at the title! This is exactly what I need to keep my boys engaged!
Crystal McClean says
It’s quite fun if I do say so myself 🙂 Enjoy!
Beth says
This is such a fun idea! Pinned =)
Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a great weekend,
Beth
Crystal McClean says
Thanks so much for sharing, Beth 🙂 Have a fantastic weekend yourself!
Shirley @ Intelligentdomestications says
Too cute! This reminds me of a shoe matching game we used to play at a friends Christmas party. It was so much fun, we did it every year. I’m Pinning this!
Crystal McClean says
Thanks so much for sharing. I remember a shoe-matching game with a song from Girl Guides, I wonder if it was the same?
Tina at Mommynificent says
Great ideas, and hilarious too! Thanks for sharing at Booknificent Thursday!
Tina
Crystal McClean says
Just a little glimpse into our strange but happy home!
Reshama says
Crystal that is such a cute idea! I love the matching game idea.. its FUNtastic!! We read this book and loved it. I have tried the sock matching game (we do some sock puppets while mom is busy folding other things).. Thanks for joining us this week on Kid Lit Blog Hop!
-Reshama
Crystal McClean says
I love the idea of sock puppets while folding laundry! We’ll use that next week to liven up our Monday 🙂
Cheryl Carpinello says
What an interesting idea. Little guys would love this! Thanks for sharing on the Kid Lit Blog Hop! Cheryl, Hop Hostess
Crystal McClean says
Thanks for stopping by, Cheryl 🙂 Young kids find this game quite amusing!