Make two piles of shoes, with one shoe from each pair in each pile.
Put them far apart, this uses up extra energy. wink emoticon
When you say "go!" Each child grabs a shoe from one pile, runs to the other to find the match, then runs to the door to line them up neatly. You can do it simultaneously as a race, or take turns (I prefer this way, since we're working on turns in this house...).
Teaches different skills across varying age levels: matching, colors/size ("can you find the other blue shoe?" "oh, this shoe is too big to be a match!"), counting to 2, counting BY 2's at the end to tally up the pairs, right and left as they're being lined up, the important life skills of finding matching shoes and putting them away neatly, taking turns, etc. Plus the farther apart your piles and door are, the more energy they'll burn! And when they get bored of this game, shoes are fun to play with! They want to try on each other's shoes, wear them on their hands, and just be silly. I played it today with my 5-year-old and 18-month-old, and I first "invented" this game with a class of kindergarten, first, and second graders, so it works pretty well for a sibling game or across age groups (older siblings can practice helping the younger ones, too!).
(Adding mom's fancy shoes, dad's big shoes, or dress up shoes is extra fun, too!) :)
