Free Printable Football Matching Game
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If you love football then you are going to love this fun and free printable Football Matching Game. It’s easy to print and set up and will be a blast for the entire family.
Let the fun begin with our awesome Football Matching Game! Have a blast matching images that all relate to the game of football. And, guess what? You don’t even have to be a football fan to play this game. This football memory game is perfect for the entire family.
Football Matching Game
This fun football matching game – also referred to as memory – is so easy to set up. Just download the free printable (at the end of this post) and print out the game cards. The free printable PDF comes with 4 pages and contains 18 game cards. You will need to print out two copies of the game cards so you have two copies of each picture. The other two pages are designed to be the back of the game cards and are optional to print. You can still play the game if you don’t want to print these pages.
After printing, cut out game cards along the solid lines. You should have 36 sets of cards. The best thing about this game is that it can be played with kids of all ages. If playing with younger children, feel free to play with fewer cards to make it an easy game to play.
The Importance of Playing Memory Games
Memory games are great for both younger children and older children because they require children to use their memory skills to complete the game and help them develop other important skills. There are numerous benefits to playing this football memory game and here are a few:
- Playing memory requires players to pay attention to every card that is flipped over helping to improve focus and concentration. It also helps improve critical thinking skills when determining which cards to flip over to find a matching pairs.
- This matching game can improve visual recognition because players are required to match two like images. Children improve the ability to find similarities and differences in objects when looking for matches.
- Players use their short-term memory to remember where cards are placed while playing memory games so playing matching and memory games will help improve this function. A good short-term memory will help improve a person’s long-term memory and improve learning in other areas.
- When playing memory, players need to plan their next move as they observe and remember the cards that have already been shown. This helps with problem solving and analytical thinking skills.
- Memory games provide opportunities for social interaction. Interacting with peers helps children learn to communicate, cooperate, and negotiate. These games can be a platform for making friends and understanding the dynamics of social relationships helping them develop essential social skills.
- Flipping over small cards and setting up the cards in rows is a great way for young children to develop fine motor skills.
How to Play This Fun Football Game
- Shuffle cards and lay them on a flat surface, face down, in rows.
- Players take turns turning any two cards over to show the pictures on the cards. If a player turns over two pairs of cards, they collect both of those cards. If the cards do not match, player turns the cards back over and leaves them in the same place. The next player turns over two cards looking for a match and players continue to turn over two cards at a time.
- The game continues until all cards have been matched and removed from the playing area. The player with the most pairs of matching cards at the end of the game wins.
Fun Ways to Use this Free Printable
- A fun game to play during football season on game day when watching the big game.
- Planning a Super Bowl party? Let the kids play this card game while the adults watch football
- Great for football birthday parties.
- Fun printable game to play at a scouts meeting or youth group gathering.
- Perfect for your next family game night.
- A great game for classroom use! Fellow teachers – we all love free printables! Personal classroom use is allowed.
- Fun activities to have on hand when you need something quick to entertain young kids.
Tips for Printing Printables So They Always Look Fantastic!
After downloading and saving the printable PDF file, it’s time to print our printable. Here are five tips you can use to help your printouts look their best.
Invest in a good home printer – I have an Epson Expression Wireless Color Printer that I currently use to print my printables and I’m very happy with it.
Choose the right paper – For best results, we recommend printing this game on white cardstock. When I’ve tried to print on regular paper I found that the ink causes the paper to wrinkle a little especially if the printable requires a lot of ink. Card stock is thicker paper that is better for printables that you want to use over and over again like this printable game.
Use a paper trimmer – I recommend using a paper trimmer if you are cutting out cards,  game pieces, gift tags, and other smaller printables. It makes it so much easier to cut everything straight.
Use a professional printing service – I also recommend using a professional printing service to get the best quality. I go to Office Depot or Staples a lot to print my printables. I’ve also used Shutterfly and Walgreens to print large printables. Most printables use a lot of ink so it may even save you money to get them professionally printed.
Laminate them – Laminating printables will help them last longer especially if it’s something you want to use over and over again. I’m a little obsessed with laminating things and thanks to my handy dandy laminator, I can laminate anything right at home. You’ll also need laminating sheets.
How to Download this Printable Memory Matching Game
I’ve made it so easy for you to download these Easter memory cards. Just add your name and email in the form below and this digital file will be delivered right to your inbox. Then, open your email and save the PDF file to your computer. It’s that easy! Once the PDF is saved to your computer, just print and color.
Personal Use Only
This free printable is for personal use only. When you download a freebie on this website, it is licensed for personal use. Digital reselling, sharing, redistributing of the files is NOT allowed. In order to share, use the direct URL to this page.