A little paper. A place to begin.

Explore / Memory Matching

PRINT · MAKE · PLAY

Toy Memory Game: 8 Pairs on One Printable Sheet

Free printable PDFs · A4 & US Letter · No sign-up

Complete pack · A4US Letter

Actual printable pages in the toy memory game pack.

Make a toy memory game with a teddy bear, beach ball, kite, train, sailboat, rubber duck, rocking horse and wooden block car. The printable sheet holds eight pairs in a shared cutting grid. These are colourful illustrated cards for matching, rather than black-and-white coloring outlines. Print the sheet once, prepare opaque backs and begin with as few as two complete pairs.

Choose Your Download

The complete pack contains 2 pages. Both paper sizes include the same content. Downloads open directly without an email sign-up.

FileA4US Letter
Complete pack (2 pages)A4 PDFLetter PDF
Cut-out cards (1 page)A4 PDFLetter PDF
Illustrated guide (1 page)A4 PDFLetter PDF

Eight Pictures, Sixteen Cards

The teddy bear wears a red bow, the beach ball has broad coloured panels and the kite has a little bow-decorated tail. A toy locomotive and sailboat have their own recognisable shapes. The rubber duck, rocking horse and block car complete the set. The car has a simple wood-coloured base, red cabin and blue wheels; it is a different toy from the long locomotive. Each design appears twice without any picture changes between the two copies.

Actual memory printable: eight pictures, sixteen cards.

The cards form a four-by-four block with one shared straight cutting line between neighbours. There are no headings or footers to trim off individual cards. At actual size, each card measures 42 by 60 mm.

Print and Cut One Sheet

Choose the A4 or US Letter card file for the paper in your printer. Use portrait orientation and actual size, or 100%, to keep the stated dimensions. The two formats have the same pictures and card sizes; their outside margins differ. Print the separate guide only if you want a paper copy of the rules.

Colour printing preserves the coloured illustrations. A black-and-white printer will reproduce the same shapes in grey tones; these filled pictures are not outlined designs intended for coloring. Check one sheet for complete kite tail, sailboat mast and toy wheels before making extra copies.

Make Every Back Look the Same

For a face-down game, the pictures must stay hidden. Use opaque card stock that your printer accepts, or glue the whole uncut printed sheet to plain card and let it dry flat. Hold the sheet toward a light before cutting: if a picture is recognisable from behind, add an opaque backing.

Trim the outside of the card block, cut it into strips along the shared grid, then separate the cards. An adult can prepare the set for children who are not ready for cutting. There is no separate patterned back to align, and no double-sided printing is needed.

Start with Two Complete Pairs

Pick two toys and take both copies of each. Shuffle those four cards and place them face down in a square. Leave the other twelve cards aside. Turn over two cards, keeping them in their original places. A matching toy pair is kept by that player, who takes another turn.

Actual memory printable: start with two complete pairs.

If the pictures differ, let everyone see them, then turn both back over in those same positions. Pass the turn to the next player. The illustration in the printable guide shows a teddy bear pair revealed; it is an example during play, not the starting arrangement.

Play with All Eight Pairs

Add another complete pair when the small game feels comfortable. Always add both copies of a picture; a single unmatched card cannot be collected. For all eight pairs, shuffle the sixteen cards and arrange them in a four-by-four layout with a little space between them.

Keep the card positions stable after an unsuccessful turn. Continue until every pair is collected. You can work together to find all eight pairs, or count each player's pairs at the end. Equal totals are a tie. To restart, gather the cards, shuffle and deal a fresh face-down layout.

Try Face-Up Matching

For open-picture matching, spread one of each toy face up and offer the matching copies. This lets a child look for two identical illustrations without the hidden-card turn rules. You can also choose just the train and boat pairs for a small vehicle-themed round, then add the kite and ball pairs. Always include both copies of every selected picture.

After play, count two copies of each of the eight pictures before storing them in an envelope. Keep complete pairs together so the next round has no unmatched card. Reprint only the card sheet if a card is lost; the guide is a separate optional download.

You may print these files for personal, family and classroom activities. Share this resource page rather than selling or rehosting the PDFs.