Babushka Russian dolls

You can sit down at the table together with your little ones and by making a lot of fuss around it you are bringing a Russian doll to life and admiring its beauty. You may want to say something like that: “Just look what a beauty came to us today! Her name is Matryoshka. Look how pretty her headscarf is, look at her nice cheeks”. After wowing her you say:” Look, she feels quite heavy and she also makes some sounds if we shake her. Maybe there is something inside? Shall we have a look?”

Then you start saying together with your little one: “Matryoshka, Matryoshka, please open a little bit”. You can prolong a process of opening the doll a bit to prolong the expectation and curiosity of your little one. After you have opened the big Matryoshka and found a smaller one in it you are surely being very surprised and start examining and admiring it just like the first one. Then you put the two together and start asking questions, offering your child to compare the two and see which one is taller and which one is shorter.

Explain that they are of the same shape but of a different size, compare the colours of their aprons etc. Then suggest to find out whether there is anything else hidden in the second Matryoshka. Let the third one appear. Put it next to the other two and start it all over again, continuing until the very last one is out.

Having two sets of Matryoshkas will help to make pairs and the whole game more interesting. Your Matryoshkas can make rows of pairs and go for a walk, they can sit down to have lunch, they can play, argue, sing songs, dance, etc. This game can go on for ever. I hope you get an idea.