Free Crochet Turtle Memory Game Patterns (Plus 8 More Free Matching Games)
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You have seen it. A big soft turtle sitting on a table, and when someone lifts her shell, twenty tiny turtles come tumbling out.
Each baby has a colored dot on its belly. Kids flip them over, hunt for pairs, and stuff them all back inside mama when they are done. The toy is also its own storage bag, which is the kind of design detail that makes you a little mad you did not think of it first.
Then you go looking for the pattern and hit a wall. Half the links are dead. Half want money. And a lot of what shows up in search is the same design reposted by sites that never made it.
So here is the honest version. I checked every pattern below directly, confirmed whether it actually costs anything, and credited the person who designed it.
The Short Answer on What Is Actually Free
Let me get the awkward part out of the way first.
There is essentially one genuinely free turtle memory game pattern from a credited designer, and it is number 1 below.
Here is why. The version that went viral on TikTok was designed by Stitched by Shari, and hers is a paid PDF on Etsy. Every turtle memory game you have scrolled past since traces back to that design. So when thousands of people search for a free version of the thing they saw, they are searching for a pattern that was never free.
That is not a scam. She made it, she sells it, and her build is genuinely different: it is almost entirely no-sew, with the legs, tails, and shells crocheted directly onto the body pieces. If you want that specific construction, buy hers. We are not going to pretend she does not exist just because this list is about free patterns.
Everything numbered below is free.
1. Mama and Baby Turtle Memory Game by Crochet by Coraggio (Free)
This is the one to grab if you want the classic look without paying.
It is a free Ravelry download, and it has earned close to 1,800 favorites, which for a free game pattern is a lot of people vouching for it.
You get a large mama turtle who works as the storage container, plus baby turtles with different colored circles on their bellies. Flip the babies, match the colors, stuff them all back in mama when playtime is over.
The specs:
- Yarn: Worsted weight (Aran). The designer used Red Heart Super Saver in solids
- Hooks: 3.75mm (F), 4.0mm (G), 4.25mm (G), and 5.0mm (H)
- Mama size: About 15 inches long by 14 inches wide
- Baby size: About 3½ to 4 inches long
- Pattern length: 12 pages with written instructions and photo tutorials
- Skills: Basic stitches, crocheting in rounds, color changes, and some sewing
That mama is genuinely big. Fifteen inches is a floor-toy, not a shelf-toy, so plan your yarn accordingly.
The one thing to know going in is that this version does involve sewing pieces together. If seaming twenty sets of tiny limbs sounds like your idea of nothing, that is the trade-off for not paying, and the no-sew workarounds further down will help.
Get the free pattern on Ravelry →
Your Yarn Stash Called. It Wants to Be a Turtle.
Look, you could spend another weekend scrolling Pinterest for the “perfect” turtle pattern.
Or you could grab one that’s already perfect.
Turt-ally Hooked gives you 5 complete turtle patterns—each with a different theme, personality, and skill level.
Bee, strawberry, sunflower, Christmas, and cupcake. All adorable. All doable.
It’s straightforward, it’s cute, and if you’ve been meaning to make something other than another scarf—here’s your chance.
How to Turn Any Turtle Pattern Into a Memory Game
Here is the part nobody tells you. The memory game is not really a pattern, it is a mechanic. You need pairs of small identical objects with a hidden difference on one side.
Which means you can build one out of any small turtle pattern you already like.
The three rules that make it work
Make everything in pairs. Ten colors, two babies each, twenty turtles total. If you make an odd number, one turtle sits out every round and small children have strong feelings about that.
Put the color on the belly, not the shell. The shells must all look identical from above or the game is over before it starts. Green shells up, secret color down.
Keep the babies small. Two to four inches. Big enough that little hands can flip them, small enough that twenty of them fit inside mama.
Where to find your base turtle
Any mini turtle works. Our free crochet turtle keychain patterns are already the right size and several are no-sew, so you can skip the hardware and use the turtle body as-is.
If you are newer to this, start with crochet turtle patterns for beginners and pick whichever shape you find easiest to repeat twenty times. Repeatability matters more than cuteness here, because you are about to make a lot of them.
And if you have never made an amigurumi turtle at all, work through how to crochet an amigurumi turtle first. Building twenty of something is a rough place to learn the basics.
The one skill you cannot skip
Every single one of these starts with a magic ring. Twenty babies means twenty magic rings, so if yours currently unravels into a sad little hole, fix that first with our magic ring tutorial for amigurumi turtles.
You do not need a mama turtle to store them, either. A simple drawstring bag does the same job in a fraction of the time.
8 More Free Matching and Counting Game Patterns
The turtle version gets all the attention, but the same designers have built a whole shelf of these. Every one below is free.
2. Fishing Memory Game by Crochet by Coraggio (Free)
This one is a genuine step up in fun. Kids use magnetic fishing rods to pull crocheted fish out of a bag, then match them by color.
You get 13 fish plus a duck, the rods, and a storage bag. The duck is a bonus piece, and whoever catches it gets another turn, which is a smarter game design than it has any right to be.
- Yarn: Worsted, Red Heart Super Saver in about a dozen colors
- Hooks: 2.75mm through 5.5mm (C through I)
- Pattern length: 19 pages
- Extras needed: Keychain rings, dowel rods, magnets, buttons, fiberfill
- Age: Recommended 3+ because of the magnets and small parts
3. Ladybug Counting Game by Crochet by Coraggio (Free)
Two games in one pattern. In the first, kids count the spots on each ladybug’s back and match it to a leaf with the same number and color. In the second, larger ladybugs carry the numbers 1 through 10 on their bellies for ordering practice.
- Yarn: Worsted
- Hooks: 3.75mm, 4.25mm, 5.0mm, 5.5mm, 6.0mm
- Leaf size: About 8 inches long by 6 inches wide
- Ladybugs: 2.5 to 4.5 inches depending on version
- Pattern length: 9 pages, US terms
- Skills: Basic stitches plus post stitches
4. Ladybug Memory Game by Mit-Liebe-verbunden (Free)
A looser, more improvised take published as a free blog tutorial on Crazy Patterns. You crochet flat ladybug rounds, then add a second side in a different color combination so each piece becomes half of a unique pair.
It scales to your skill level. Simple color swaps if you are starting out, three-dimensional detail if you want to show off. Cotton scraps and a 3 to 4mm hook are all you need.
Free tutorial on Crazy Patterns →
5. Easy Crochet Memory Match Game by Ashlea at Heart Hook Home (Free)
If the turtle project sounds like too much, start here. This is the fastest one on the list by a wide margin.
The pieces are just simple circles with a spot of color on one side. Two rounds per circle. You make 20 tiles for 10 color pairs, seam two circles together with the tails tucked inside, and you are done.
- Yarn: DK weight, 11 colors, roughly 350 yards of the main color
- Hook: G/4mm
- Skill: Beginner
- Bonus: A matching drawstring storage bag pattern is included
The free version lives on the blog. Ad-free printables are sold separately, which is a fair trade.
6. Spelling Bees by Crochet by Coraggio (Free)
Little bees carrying uppercase and lowercase letters on their wings, stored inside a crocheted beehive. Kids arrange them A to Z or build short words.
- Yarn: Worsted in black, yellow, gold, white, purple, pink
- Hooks: 3.5mm, 4mm, 5mm
- Beehive size: About 8 inches wide, 7 inches tall
- Pattern length: 10 pages
- Note: Contains a button and small parts, so mind the age range
7. Cookie Counting Jar by Crochet by Coraggio (Free)
Ten cookies with “rainbow chips” on one side, numbered 1 to 10 on the other. Kids count the chips, then flip to check themselves. Everything stores in a crocheted jar.
- Yarn: Worsted, Red Heart Super Saver in brown, white, blue
- Hooks: 4.0mm, 5.0mm, 5.5mm
- Jar size: About 5 to 5.5 inches tall
- Pattern length: 6 pages
8. Tic Tac Toe Heart by Crochet by Coraggio (Free)
Not a memory game, but it belongs in the same toy basket. A self-contained tic tac toe board with crocheted pieces. Small, portable, and quick.
9. Memory Game by Crochet by Kristie (Free on Ribblr)
A beginner pattern built specifically for travel. The designer made it to keep her kids busy at restaurants, which tells you everything about the size and the piece count.
You need 5 colors total, one per shape plus a main color for the backs, and a 4.5mm hook. It is a Ribblr ePattern, so it is interactive in the browser with row tracking and US/UK term switching rather than a PDF.
Which Yarn Actually Holds Up
This is where a lot of these projects quietly go wrong.
The viral photos are usually made in plush or chenille yarn, because it looks incredible on camera. It is also the worst possible choice for a toy that a four-year-old is going to drag across a carpet twice a day.
Plush yarn sheds, pills, and hides its stitches. Counting rounds in chenille is genuinely miserable, and stuffing shows through the gaps.
For a toy that survives real use, cotton yarn (my pick: 24-pack milk cotton yarn) is the better call. It holds stitch definition, washes without matting, and stays firm enough that small pieces keep their shape. Worsted acrylic like Red Heart Super Saver is the budget middle ground and what most of these designers actually specified.
Whatever you pick, go one hook size smaller than the label suggests. Loose amigurumi fabric lets stuffing poke through, and on a two-inch turtle there is nowhere for that to hide.
Safety, Because These Are Baby Toys
Worth being blunt here. A memory game is made of twenty small objects, and small objects are exactly what choking hazard warnings are about.
Embroider the eyes. Do not use plastic safety eyes on pieces this small if the toy is going anywhere near a child under three. Safety eyes are called that because of how they attach, not because they are safe at every age.
Skip the buttons where a pattern calls for one, or replace it with a few embroidered stitches. Same look, nothing to pull off.
If magnets are involved, like in the fishing game, take the 3+ age recommendation seriously. Swallowed magnets are a genuine emergency, not a “keep an eye on it” situation.
Sew every piece closed properly and give the toy a tug test before handing it over.
How Long This Actually Takes
Set your expectations before you buy yarn.
| Project | Realistic time |
|---|---|
| Heart Hook Home circles (20 tiles) | 3 to 4 hours |
| Turtle mama alone | About 2 hours |
| Each baby turtle | About 20 minutes |
| Full turtle set with 20 babies | Close to 9 hours |
The turtle set is a commitment. If that number scares you, make 12 babies instead of 20. Six pairs is plenty of game for a toddler, and you can always add more later since they are identical.
Batching helps more than anything. Make all twenty bellies, then all twenty shells, then assemble. Doing one complete turtle at a time means re-reading the same page twenty times.
Can You Sell What You Make
Free pattern does not mean free rein, and this trips people up constantly.
Most independent designers allow you to sell finished items made from their patterns as long as you credit them and do not mass produce. Most do not allow you to share, republish, or resell the pattern file itself.
But the terms vary by designer, and they are written on the pattern page. Read them. If a pattern says handmade sales are fine with credit, that is your answer. If it says personal use only, respect it.
Never repost the actual instructions, even for a free pattern. Link people to the designer instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a memory game, exactly?
It is the classic matching game, sometimes called Concentration. You lay all the pieces out face down, flip two at a time, and try to remember where you saw each color.
Match a pair and you keep it and go again. Miss and you flip them back over for the next player.
The crochet version works because every shell looks identical from above and the color is hidden underneath. That is the entire trick.
How many baby turtles do I actually need?
Ten pairs, so twenty turtles, is the standard set and what most patterns are written for.
For a toddler, twelve is plenty. Six pairs is already a real game and it cuts your crocheting time roughly in half. You can always add pairs later, since every baby is made the same way.
Are these crochet memory game patterns really free?
Every numbered pattern is, and we confirmed each one directly rather than trusting the link text.
The one exception is called out at the top: the original Stitched by Shari turtle game is a paid Etsy PDF, which is exactly why free searches for it dead-end. Heart Hook Home gives the full pattern free on the blog and sells an ad-free printable separately, which is normal and fair.
Can I wash a crochet memory game?
Yes, and you will need to, because these live on the floor.
Cotton and acrylic both handle a gentle cold cycle in a mesh laundry bag. Air dry flat. Avoid the dryer, since heat is what turns a firm little turtle into a floppy one.
This is the strongest argument against plush and chenille yarn. It mats after a wash and never fully recovers.
Is a crochet memory game safe for a one-year-old?
Not as usually built, no. Twenty two-inch pieces are exactly the size that fits in a mouth.
For a child under three, skip the safety eyes and embroider them instead, skip any buttons the pattern calls for, and make the pieces on the larger end of the range. Skip the fishing game entirely at that age, since it has magnets.
For a supervised toddler around two, a set of large flat circles like the Heart Hook Home version is the safer choice than tiny turtles.
What if my mama turtle will not hold all the babies?
Usually your gauge is looser than the designer’s, so your babies came out bigger than the pattern expects.
Two fixes. Make fewer pairs, or go down a hook size on the babies only and leave mama as-is. Do not size mama up to compensate, because a 15-inch turtle is already large.
What is the difference between a memory game and a matching game?
For our purposes, nothing. People search both terms for the same toy.
Strictly, a matching game just asks you to pair things up in plain sight, while a memory game hides them face down so you have to remember. Crochet versions do both, since a toddler can play the pieces face up before they are ready for the memory version.
Do I need to know how to sew to make one?
For most of these, a little. The Coraggio turtle involves real assembly.
If sewing is the part you dread, the no-sew route is the Stitched by Shari construction, where limbs get crocheted directly onto the body. The Heart Hook Home circles need only a single seam joining two flat rounds.
How much yarn does a full set take?
Less than you would guess, because the babies are tiny.
Mama takes the bulk of it, roughly one skein of worsted. Each baby is a few yards, so twenty of them together are still under a skein spread across ten colors. This is one of the best scrap-busting projects there is.
Go Make One
The real appeal of this project is not the crocheting. It is watching a kid figure out that the green shells all look the same and the secret is underneath.
Start small if you are unsure. Make the Heart Hook Home circles in an afternoon, see whether the kid in your life actually plays with it, and then commit to the nine-hour turtle set once you know it is going to get used.
And if you catch the turtle bug along the way, we have plenty more waiting. Try the sunflower turtle amigurumi, the kawaii crochet turtle patterns, or a whole batch of free crochet sea turtle patterns when you need a break from making the same baby turtle for the nineteenth time.
Which one are you starting with? The classic mama-and-babies, or the fishing game with the magnets?
About Author
Muntaseer Rahman started keeping pet turtles back in 2013. He also owns the largest Turtle & Tortoise Facebook community in Bangladesh. These days he is mostly active on Facebook.
