Dot Sticker Fish - Color Matching Activity for Toddlers

Here is a super simple toddler activity if you are working on colors or want to start working on colors with your little one! There are so many fun ways to practice this skill and it’s a great place to start if you are wanting to do any organized, play-based learning activities with your 1-2 year old.

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To prep this activity, I drew and cut some fish out of white card stock paper and colored one red, one blue, one yellow, and one green. You could also save yourselves a whole lot of time (unless you truly enjoy coloring), and just use colored paper. ;) I taped the fish up to a wall using painters’ tape, and gave Tatum (age 2) some removable dot stickers to peel (GREAT fine motor practice) and stick onto the matching colored fish.

It is important to provide opportunities for kiddos to practice fine motor skills at an early age because these are the little muscles they will need in order to learn to properly eat with forks and spoons, zip their coats, tie their shoes, button their clothes (linking a similar puzzle to one we have and love that also works on these skills), brush their teeth, write their names, etc. A few simple ways to work on fine motor skills with little ones are by peeling stickers or tape, playing with play doh, threading cut-up straws onto pipe cleaners, poking poms through little holes in an empty container, and dropping straws or craft sticks in an empty water bottle. You can find lots more fine motor activities for toddlers here and here!

Not only are kiddos working on fine motor skills, recognizing colors, and naming them, they are also practicing matching, and sorting- both of which are important early math skills! In addition to these skills, any time kiddos get the opportunity to work at a vertical surface (such as taping an activity up to a wall, or painting at an easel), it is helping to strengthen arm and shoulder muscles, working on spatial awareness and coordination, encouraging good posture, and so much more. I found this awesome resource with more information on the benefits of working at a vertical surface.

Another fun way to do this activity could be to shrink it down into an early learning journal- they even make mini dot stickers that would be perfect for this activity on a smaller scale! For older kiddos, you could make a fish for each letter of their name, and then write letters on the dot stickers for them to match- similar to this activity.

Stay tuned to see more ocean themed activities coming to the blog soon and in the mean time, be sure to check out these fun play themes for toddlers and preschoolers:
Zoo Activities
Bug Activities
Frog Activities