Sorting Activities Teaching Resources
Download printable sorting activities to help your elementary students practice grouping different items into categories.
With activities aligned with the Common Core curriculum and editable options, this teacher resource collection is stocked with hundreds of resources perfect for elementary and middle school teachers,
Each sorting and grouping resource in this teaching resource collection has been created by a teacher, and each resource has undergone a rigorous review by the teachers on the Teach Starter team to ensure it's ready to download and use in your classroom.
Choose from sorting activities for math, ELA, science or social studies with printable and digital options available! This collection also includes sorting activities that can be used for whole class, group or independent tasks.
Curious about how our teacher team uses sorting activities to keep kids engaged and make learning more fun? Read on for a primer!
What Are Sorting Activities?
Let's start with a definition. When we talk about sorting activities at Teach Starter, we're referring to hands-on activities for students that require them to identify, sort, and group different items into alike categories.
This tests recognition and helps students develop their problem-solving skills.
Are you mostly familiar with sorting activities for preschool or kindergarten? We have those, but you'll also find activities designed for older students from 1st and 2nd grade all the way up through 5th and 6th grade.
The goal is to strengthen students' comparison skills and deepening their understanding of a particular topic by sorting cards, playing games and often matching items.
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Gingerbread Man Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for The Gingerbread Man.
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Environmental Awareness Flip Book - Earth Day Activity
Use this flip book to build awareness of actions that are good and bad for the environment.
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Author's Purpose Sorting Activity
In this author's purpose activity, students will sort 20 phrase cards into groups by identifying whether the text is meant to inform, persuade, or entertain.
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Informative Paragraphs Sequencing Activity
Teach your students about informational text paragraph structure with this hands-on sequencing activity.
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Plant and Animal Sort - Task Cards
Sort plants and animals using different characteristics with a set of task cards and picture cards.
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3-Digit Number Form Sorting Activity
Engage with different forms of 3-digit numbers with this sorting activity.
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Odd and Even Numbers Sorting Activity
Identify and sort 2- and 3-digit numbers into odd and even categories.
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Building Words with Suffixes Sorting Activity
Build words by matching the root word to suffixes, recording the new words on the answer sheet.
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Forms of Energy Sorting Activity
Help students identify the different forms of energy with this set of 24 sorting cards.
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Solids, Liquids, and Gases – Sorting Activity
A sorting activity to help students identify solids, liquids, and gases.
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Percentages, Fractions, and Decimals Sort
A worksheet connecting percentage, decimal, and fraction values.
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Parts of Speech Word Cards Sorting Activity
Engage your students with this parts of speech group activity where they sort 112 word cards into categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, coordinating conjunctions or prepositions).
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Classifying Angles – 4th Grade Sorting Activity
Help students recognize different types of angles in everyday life with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Word Building Bricks - Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots Activity
Build, read and write multi-syllable words using prefixes, suffixes, and base words with a fun word-building literacy activity.
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Number Neighborhood - Printable Number Line Sequencing Cards
Print a set of colorful numbered houses to use for skip counting, ordering, and comparing numbers.
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Dictionary Sorting Game
Get students in the habit of researching with our dictionary activity that helps learners match a word to its definition and part of speech.
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Mixtures and Solutions Sort
Distinguish between mixtures and solutions with this 24-card sorting activity.
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Fall Math Center - Odd and Even Number Sort
Identify and sort 2- and 3-digit numbers into odd and even categories with a Fall math activity.
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Nouns Sorting Activity
Practice recognizing and sorting nouns into categories using these 24 picture common noun cards.
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Thermal Energy Transfer Sorting Activity
Learn about conduction, convection, and radiation with this set of 24 sorting cards.
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What's the Matter? Task Cards
An activity for students to use when learning about the properties of solids, liquids, and gases.
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Syllable Sort
Use this Syllable Sort Game to assist your students in identifying syllables in different words.
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Sorting Objects by Property Template
A template to use when sorting objects using the sense of touch and sight.
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Uses of Materials Sorting Activity
A fun sorting activity for students to explore the materials objects are made of.
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Rhetorical Questions Sorting Activity
Explore examples of rhetorical questions with your students using this set of 28 sorting cards perfect for reading centers.
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Vowel Teams Sort OA, OW, and OE
Decode words with "oa", "oe", or "ow" long "o" vowel teams using 18 picture cards with sorting mats.
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Vowel Teams Sort EE, EA, and EY
Decode words with EE, EA, or EY long "e" vowel teams using 18 picture cards with sorting mats.
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Color By Vowel Sound (Winter Worksheet for Kindergarten & 1st Grade)
Use a "cool" color by vowel sound worksheet to bring a bit of Winter into the classroom this season.
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Matching Expanded and Standard 2-Digit Number Cards
Explore double digit numbers in standard and expanded form with this sorting activity for your math groups.
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2nd Grade Odd or Even Sorting Game (Coins)
Help your students practice their knowledge of odd and even numbers with this fun coin sorting activity.
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Main Idea Ice Cream Cones Sorting Activity
Practice distinguishing the main idea and the supporting detail with this fun ice cream sorting activity.
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Building Words with Prefixes Sorting Activity
Build words by matching the root word to prefixes, recording the new words on the answer sheet.