Sorting Tasks

I was looking for ways for Angie to do some sorting to reinforce various concepts, like number, color, size and shape. So I found two craft items that work perfectly. The first is assorted size pom-poms. No work involved here, you just set out the assorted pom-poms and some cups or other containers. Then, ask your child to sort the pom-poms by either color or size.

The second is colored popsicle sticks. (You can get plain ones and paint them yourself if you like, but getting the colored ones eliminates some work for you.) I made sorting sticks by drawing (with black marker) different numbers of shapes on the sticks as follows:

• One each of red, blue, yellow, and green sticks with one square
• One each of red, blue, yellow, and green sticks with two squares
• One each of red, blue, yellow, and green sticks with three squares
• One each of red, blue, yellow, and green sticks with four squares
• One each of red, blue, yellow, and green sticks with five squares

Repeat for circle, diamond, triangle and heart. You should have a total of 100 sticks when you're finished. Like the pom-poms, you can sort by color. But now, you can sort on shape and on number of shapes as well. It gives the child the ability to recognize groupings of 1 to five items by sight, rather than by enumeration.

Additionally, I use the sticks and pom-poms to make patterns for Angie to complete. I might lay out the sticks in a color pattern which she must continue: yellow, red, blue, yellow, red, blue, yellow...and she finishes with red, blue, yellow, red, blue. Or with pom-poms, I might do a size pattern: big, big, little, big, big, little, big...and she finishes with big, little, big, big, little.

I'm sure you can think of more things to do with these items as well.