Matching is a great activity for young children. Introduce matching starting with object to object-making sure they are the exact same objects. Once the child can match object to object, introduce object to picture, and lastly picture to picture. Introducing matching this way allows the child to begin with the concrete and gradually work towards the abstract.
I have seen great matching sets available, but I made this one easily with my printer. I gathered some of our animals from around the house and found the pictures on-line from retailers advertising. I then laminated it.
I tried to make the photos as close to the size of the actual animal figure as possible. I opted for four pictures on a paper to make it a little more manageable for my daughter, but individual cards would also work as a floor activity. To introduce the activity, I put out only one set. I chose an animal and said "Where is the dog?" (knowing my daughter would know this animal). She touched the picture and I set the figure on the picture.