I remember having a "picture pair" set which was zoo animals when I was a child.  I loved playing it and competing against my other family members to get the most pairs.  When I spotted this picture pair set in ELC in Mothercare I couldn't resist getting it for my kids, oh and me!

There are 27 pairs, 54 in total of good quality square cards with child friendly images such as teddy, kettle, fruits, car, animals, house, sport, bus etc.  All the cards are nicely printed with clear colourful images on them.

This pack of cards was good value at £6 and a great educational tool for kids in the for of a game.  We play match the cards, I started off with a small amount of pairs, putting them on the table upside down and then picking them up and remembering where it's pair was. We you find a pair you take them away and keep it in your pair pile. This is great for developing memory skills.   Over time with my daughter (now 5) we have built up to using the whole pack at a time and she really enjoys playing this game and beating Mummy and Daddy!

We also count the number of pairs we have collected at the end of the game, helping with maths skills and I think the competitive element of trying to get the most pairs is good.  There are other games you can play with these cards, for example sorting them into piles of similar objects, for example a set of pets, transportation, household appliances, sports.  This is a good way of playing with the cards for my son who is 2 1/2 and gaining an understanding of wider groups of objects.

So far we still have a full pack which have remained in good condition bar the odd dog-eared corner.  I would really recommend these as a great little education tool which is fun to play with and brings the family together.