Children of all ages benefit from sorting. Whether young children are sorting two items into piles or an older child is sorting vocabulary by different characteristics, sorting is stimulating the brain. It is a great activity to develop an important skill.
Comparing, contrasting, and grouping while children are sorting positively impacts logical thinking skills and mathematical concepts. Here’s a huge collection of our favorite sorting activities. Just download, print, and sort.
Color Sorting Activities
You can encourage your busy toddler to sort anything by color. Things you have on hand at home are perfect such as:
- blocks
- pom poms
- toys (cars, stuffed animals, play food)
- clothes
- stickers
- pipe cleaners
- dot stickers
- crayons
Sort the items onto matching colored construction paper or onto paper plates with the color in the middle of each one.
Another great idea is to sort beads by color into cupcake liners. This is a fun way to develop fine motor skills.
For extra practice here are several free, printable color sorting activities:
- Sorting Birds by Color from The Activity Mom
- Color Sorting Mats from Kindergarten Worksheets and Games
- Sorting Pictures from The Activity Mom
- Bear Sorting Mats from Fairy Poppins
- Cereal Sorting Mat from I Can Teach My Child
- Dump Truck Color Sorting from Childcare Land
- Sorting Flowers by Color from 123 Kids Fun
- Color Sorting Mats from The Kindergarten Connection
Shape Sorting Activities
Sorting things by shape provides the extra challenge of identifying shapes and their characteristics. If you have a shape sorter at home, use it to talk about the different shapes and how they feel and look and the different attributes of each shape. Then use it as a sorting activity.
Here is a collection of free, printable shape sorting activities:
- Shape Sorting Mats from ABCs to ACTs
- Leaf Shape Sorting from Sea of Knowledge
- Shape Blocks from Powerful Mothering
- Sorting Cards by Shape by A Dab of Glue Will Do
- Penguin Shape Sorting from Kindergarten Worksheets and Games
- Fish Shape Sorting from In My World
- Sorting Shapes from Powerful Mothering
- 3D Shape Sorting Flowers from You’ve Got This Math
Math Sorting Activities
Working with numbers that are represented in different ways is a challenge that is extremely beneficial for number sense and subitizing. These early math skills help develop a solid foundation.
Here’s a great collection of free, printable number cards that you can use for sorting:
- Sorting Numbers from This Reading Mama
- Number Sorting from Totschooling
- More Number Sorting from Life Over Cs
- Dog Themed Number Sorting from Sweet Sounds of Kindergarten
- Another Number Sorting from The Curriculum Corner
Letter Sorting Activities
While children are experimenting with letter identification and phonics concepts, sorting helps them find patterns and categorize information. Sort with magnetic letters when your child is sorting letters for the first time.
Here are several free, printable sorting activities:
- Capital and Lowercase Letters Sorting (Superhero Themed) from Letters of Literacy
- Sorting letters, numbers, and words from The Kindergarten Connection
- Beginning Sound Sorting from The Printable Princess
- Sound Sorting from The Measured Mom
- Initial Sound Sorting from Totschooling
Beginning Reading Sorting Activities
Sorting words by word families, parts of speech, or prefixes/suffixes helps to deepen vocabulary and improve reading and spelling fluency.
- Farm Themed Sorting Pictures by Syllables from The Letters of Literacy
- Turkey Themed Word Family Sorting from Kindergarten Worksheets and Games
- Ice Cream Themed Word Family Sorting from The Kindergarten Connection
- Fall Themed Word Family Sorting from Playdough to Plato
- Winter Themed Word Family Sorting Un, Ub from In My World
- Popcorn Themed Word Family Sorting from Playdough to Plato
Science Sorting Activities
Even in subjects like Science and Social Studies, sorting is a fundamental skill that helps the brain make connections and organize new information
- Insect Sorting – Wings and No Wings from Fun With Mama
- Recycling Sorting from Supply Me
- Earth Day Sorting from Totschooling
- Habitat Sorting from Kiddy Charts
- Food Group Sorting from Totschooling
We hope that you will find this great resource helpful for your early childhood classroom or at home with your children. With sorting being such a beneficial activity, use these resources and get started today!
Ana
Thursday 24th of August 2023
all the activities are very nice.
Candee
Thursday 13th of October 2022
Thank you so very much for all your neat ideas!
Nicole
Saturday 15th of October 2022
Happy to share!