Egg Carton Color Matching

Help your students brush up on their colors and problem solving skills with this homemade (and recycled!) egg carton color matching activity! We found several ways to make it so you can choose which version you prefer and tailor it to suit your classroom's needs.

Basic Supplies You'll Need

• Recycled egg carton (preferably the cardboard kind)
• Craft paint in assorted colors
• Craft paint brushes

The first design we got from Jennifer at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman. In her approach to the learning activity, the egg carton is left whole and opened up to reveal each of the twelve egg cups. Using craft paint in all the colors of the rainbow, Jennifer coated the inside of each cup with a different color and set the carton aside to dry.

This version is more versatile, allowing your students to use a variety of markers for color matching - craft pom pons, buttons, marbles, painted stones, crayons, recycled marker caps, magazine color clippings, paint chips, plastic blocks, painted clothespins, colored magnets, color word labels, toy cars, and anything else you can find around the classroom (or even outside the classroom)! Additionally, add a pair of tongs, tweezers, heavy mittens, etc. to the activity table and your students have some great fine motor practice!

We found the next version of the egg carton color matching game at PreschoolRock.com. Here, the activity designer chose to turn the entire carton upside down and paint the outside of the egg cups with craft paint in assorted colors. Once dry, a slit was placed at the top of each cup so that craft sticks with construction paper circles in assorted colors could be matched (and stuck into) the matching cup on the egg carton.

Construction paper circles are great, but you might also consider using recycled paint chips, plain painted craft sticks, color word labels (like the ones below), color word labels and construction paper circles, adhesive foam shapes, and anything else that you can mount onto the craft sticks.

Lastly, if you're not feeling up to the mess of painting, this version of the activity from Darcey at Play 2 Grow uses colored plastic Easter eggs to designate egg cup colors. Once piece of the egg is left in the carton and the other half is used for matching. The plastic eggs bring a very natural element to the activity - you'd expect to find eggs in an egg carton - and is less messy to create than the first two painted versions!

However you decide to make this activity, it is sure to be a hit in any preschool or kindergarten classroom!