My kids love this matching game. We did this one last year as well. Last time I just printed it out on card stock and it worked great. This year I am all out and keep forgetting to buy more. So, I printed it out on regular printer paper and laminated all the pieces to make them a bit more durable. Card stock would have been a bit less time consuming, but hey, ya work with what you've got. :-D
There are a few different ways you can use this game in your curriculum. You can do it the traditional way. Turn them over and each take turns trying to find a match, or if you kids aren't quite at the level of being able to figure it out, (Like L) you can spread the pictures out face up on the table, pick out one picture and ask them to pick the matching picture from the cards. Or, you can do the "one of these things" game. Pick out 3 cards at a time. Two matching cards and a odd one. Ask which two are the same and which one doesn't belong.
On a related note, I also found this cute advent calendar from familyfun.com.
