Shadow Matching Activities for Preschoolers

Shadow matching is one of the simplest, most popular early learning puzzles, and for good reason. It needs no reading, it looks like a game, and it quietly practices a skill that children use every day when they learn letters, numbers and words.

What is shadow matching?

A shadow matching activity shows a set of colorful pictures on one side and a set of black or gray silhouettes on the other. The child decides which shadow belongs to which picture, then draws a line to connect them, or points, or moves a card. A fox goes with the fox-shaped shadow, and a frog goes with the frog-shaped shadow.

What skills does shadow matching practice?

• Visual discrimination. Your child compares shapes and decides which ones are the same and which are different. This careful looking is the same skill used later to tell apart letters that look alike, such as b and d.
• Shape awareness. The color and the details are gone, so children have to focus on the outline: round, tall, spiky, long.
• Reasoning. “This one has long ears, so it must be the rabbit.” Children learn to give reasons.
• Pencil control. Drawing a line from one side to the other is real pre-writing practice, especially when the line crosses the page.
• Vocabulary and attention. Naming the pictures, and staying with a puzzle until it is finished.

Which level should you start with?

• Easy: four pairs. Use pictures with very different shapes, such as a fish, an apple and a car.
• Medium: six pairs, with some shapes that are closer together.
• Hard: eight to ten pairs, including shadows that look alike. Children have to look at the details of the outline, such as the ears, the tail or the legs.

Our shadow matching worksheets generator has all three levels, pairs from 4 to 10 per page, six picture groups (animals, fruits, vehicles, shapes, objects and toys) and an answer key page so you can check the work together.

Eight shadow matching activities to try

1. Print a sheet. Choose a picture group your child loves and print a page. Let them choose a crayon for the lines.
2. Flashlight shadows. In a dim room, shine a flashlight on a few toys so they cast shadows on the wall. Ask your child which toy made which shadow.
3. Trace and match. Trace around toys or cookie cutters on black paper, cut out the shapes and have your child match each cut-out to the right toy.
4. Puzzle boards. Wooden puzzles with outlines are shadow matching in 3D. Take the pieces out and put them back.
5. Sunny day shadows. Draw around your child’s shadow with chalk and do it again later. Notice how the shadow changes size through the day.
6. Memory game. Make pairs of cards, one with the picture and one with its shadow, and play a matching memory game.
7. Wrong shadow detective. Show a picture and three similar shadows, only one of them correct. Ask your child to explain how they know.
8. Make your own. Let your child draw a picture, and you draw its shadow in black. Trade, and swap roles.

Tips for adults

• Start with real objects. Matching a toy to its shadow is easier than a drawing, because it has real depth.
• Name each picture before matching. Children who know what an item is are better at recognizing its outline.
• Ask “how do you know?” This turns a quick guess into a thinking skill.
• Let them choose how to answer. If drawing lines is hard, let them point, use stickers or place cards.
• Reduce the pairs if they get frustrated, and add more when it feels easy.

What to do next

After shadow matching, try other matching and looking puzzles. Picture matching worksheets link a picture to a related one, such as a bee to a flower. Visual discrimination worksheets ask your child to find the odd one out, find the match, or decide whether two pictures are the same or different. When your child is ready to look closely at letters, find and color letters worksheets turn the same skill to the alphabet.

Shadow matching is also a good warm-up before pencil work. See 15 pre-writing activities for preschoolers for more.

Free printables to go with this guide

Put this guide into practice with our free generators: shadow matching worksheets, visual discrimination worksheets, picture matching worksheets, find and color letters worksheets.

Free workbooks to go with this guide

• Shapes Tracing and Coloring Book – Ten shapes to trace, hunt for and color, plus tracing practice and matching games.
• Fruits and Vegetables Tracing and Coloring Book – Color 26 fruits and vegetables, trace each word and write it alone, then review with matching games.
• Animals Tracing and Coloring Book – Color 28 animals from the farm, the garden and the wild, trace each name and write it alone.

Keep reading

• Pre-Writing Activities for Preschoolers: 15 Fun Ideas – Fifteen fun pre-writing activities for preschoolers that build the strokes, strength and control children need before they start writing letters and names.
• Handwriting Readiness Checklist: Is Your Child Ready to Write? – A simple handwriting readiness checklist for ages 3 to 6: ten signs your child is ready to start writing, and what to do if they are not there yet.
• Letter Formation Order: Which Letters to Teach First – A simple letter formation order: group letters by how they are written and teach straight-line letters first. Capital and small letter groups, with a week plan.