Sorting

Young children have an innate desire to make sense of their world, and sorting activities provide them with an opportunity to do this in a way they can fully control. Sorting activities encourage the development of several core skills in children:

• Early mathematical skills – Children learn about the concepts of similarity and difference, as well as opposites, as they sort through objects.
• Visual perception – Through sorting, children learn to observe objects and make decisions based on their visual characteristics.
• Problem-solving skills – Sorting helps children look at objects critically and analytically.
• Vocabulary development – As children sort through different objects, they also learn their characteristics, such as colors, shapes, and function. In turn, these are added ideas to their vocabulary.                                                 

Children can learn to sort objects by considering different parameters. Here are some atypical ways of sorting common objects:

• Sort by temperature – Ask your child to help you unpack the parcels from your grocery shopping. Let him or her tell you which items should be refrigerated.
• Sort by weight – Let your child go through his or her toy cupboard and sort the toys by weight. Soft toys will go into the light heap while bigger toys such as cars will go to the heavy heap.
• Sort by texture – Give your child a basket full of leftover fabric to play with. Encourage him or her to sort the fabric pieces by texture. You child can make a heap for smooth, rough, silky, stretchy, thin and thick fabric.                                          

Here are some examples of toys that encourage classification and sorting:

• A shape sorter – This comes in many forms, such as houses, cars, or dolls; but the most common form is a ball.
• Wooden puzzles with knobs – These puzzles provide a fun way for children to sort the right picture into the right shape.
• Stackers and Nesting Cups –These provide children with ample opportunity to arrange objects according to the right order.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

You don’t need expensive toys to start these sorting exercises since opportunities to classify and sort abound in everyday household items. Give your kids as many opportunities as possible to further sharpen their keen observation skills.