I found a set of foam bath shapes at Toys R Us (in the cheap-o section at the front). There are 4 different animals, each in 4 different colors.
Prep Work: I chose a group of shapes to trace onto cardstock and then colored each shape.
During the activity: I give J a set of shapes along with the silhouette page and ask him to match the correct shape on top of each silhouette.
This is an activity that J first did around 26 months. It’s a step up from regular matching because he must match both color and shape, and then he must figure out how to match the shape on top (which might mean turning the duck over so it is facing the correct way). When he first started I gave him only the shapes that could be found on the silhouette sheet. As he got better, I slowly added more shapes for him to search through. So he might have to bypass the orange and blue duck in search of the green duck.
Now at 3 years old, he is still challenged by the activity. To add to its difficulty, I added another page of silhouettes for him to match and I give him the entire bucket of foam shapes to search through (there are many extras that will not have a match, making the search harder).
Here is another silhouette activity J enjoys.
