Little Match: A Preschool Card Game

I was sent a copy of Little Match for review purposes. I have received no compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Playing games with my grandsons is a regular part of my routine. Right now, my favorite game to play with preschoolers is Little Match. It has elements of Memory, Uno, and Go Fish but is simple enough for a three-year-old to play. The Little Match game has four different animals (owl, cat, butterfly, and rabbit) on thick cards with soft, rounded edges.

How to Play Little Match

To play you shuffle cards and pass our four to each player. One card is placed face up in the middle of the table and the player looks at his cards and sees if he has a match. The twist? Your card can match either the animal or the color. The fun part about Little Match is it involves luck and strategy.

If you don’t have a matching color or animal in your hand, you draw one from the middle (like in Uno). Your little ones can improve their game as they understand how switching colors or animals might work against their opponent.

Three-year-old Abel enjoys playing Little Match.

Little Match has lovely, soft illustrations that will be enjoyed by children and adults. The colors are muted but not pastel. The cards are made of thick, durable cardboard with a plastic-feeling coating that makes them wipeable in case of accidents and grubby hands.

Three year old Abel playing Little Match preschool card game.

Simplifying Preschool Games

I have found that the concept of matching one or the other was confusing for my three-year-old grandsons, but four-year-old Percy was able to understand. Because of this, Abel and I often played where we just matched the animals. Before long, he will understand how to play better and eventually add in some strategy.

Abel finding matching animals. — You can see how happy and focused Abel was while matching up the animals.

Another way Abel enjoyed playing with this was to have me place one card of each animal in front of him. He then turned over one card at a time, placing it in the pile with the matching animal. The best part? This version of the game could be played independently. You could also do the same thing by matching up color only, or color and animal.