Learning area: Fine motor and memory skills

Time needed: 20-30 minutes

Grade level: K-2

Memory games are a classroom favorite for good reason! They invite young learners to play while strengthening memory, early problem-solving, and language skills. This easy-to-use version needs just a pencil, an eraser, and a printed memory game template—perfect for quick prep and lots of fun. As children shade and erase matching pairs, they’re building fine motor skills, practicing proper pencil grip, and developing hand-eye coordination.

Materials:

• STAEDTLER My First Norica 4mm graphite pencil
• STAEDTLER Mars plastic eraser
• Printable memory game template—3 printable designs

Instructions:

Step 1

Choose your favorite memory game template—underwater creatures, land animals, or heroes of the skies. Have your students work in pairs. Print out the desired template and distribute a copy to each student pair.

Step 2

Have your students color over/shade all of the individual images with a pencil so that they are no longer visible.

Step 3

Now let the fun begin! Once everything is shaded, students take turns using an eraser to reveal two pictures at a time, trying to find matching pairs. If the images match, they keep the pair (or get a point); if not, they re-shade and move on. The game continues until all pairs are found, and the student with the most pairs wins!

A tutorial by Jessica Goerdel for STAEDTLER