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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Lower Grades - Synonyms or Antonyms? Sorting Activity
Identify synonyms and antonyms with a sorting activity designed for lower elementary students.
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Prime and Composite Number Sort
Identify prime and composite numbers by sorting 30 number cards into their proper category.
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Cut and Paste: Characteristics of Communities
Identify characteristics of the different types of communities (urban, rural, suburban) with a cut-and-paste sorting worksheet.
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Apple Barrel Blends - Sorting Center
Supplement your phonics lessons with a consonant blend “Apple Barrel” sorting center.
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Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences Sort
Practice reading, identifying, and writing simple, compound, and complex sentences with a sorting activity.
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Things I Can and Cannot Control – Sorting Activity
Help students identify things in life they can and cannot control with this sorting activity.
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Physical and Chemical Changes - Sorting Activity
A set of 24 sorting cards to practice identifying physical and chemical changes.
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Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down Expectations Sort
Review appropriate classroom behaviors with this sorting activity.
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Sorting by Category - Vocabulary Activity
Early readers can practice sorting and decoding with this category sorting board activity for 1 to 4 players.
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What's the Author's Purpose? - Sorting Activity
A sorting activity to help students identify the author’s purpose for a piece of text.
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Fact File Sorting Activity
Use this fact sorting activity to teach your students about informational writing.
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Let's Sort It! - 2D and 3D Shapes
Play this sorting game when learning about the properties of 2D and 3D shapes.
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Consonant Blends Beehive Sorting Activity
Explore common consonant blends with a bee-themed sorting activity perfect for lower elementary phonics lessons.
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Counting Cookies Sorting Activity
Practice counting to 10 with various representations with this cookie sorting activity.
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Day or Night Sorting Activity
Help your little learners understand and apply the concepts of day and night with this fun sorting activity.
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Natural and Human Made Heat Sources Sort
Explore the different man-made and natural heat sources with this sorting activity.
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Heat Sources Sorting Activity
Explore various sources of heat with this printable sorting activity for your students.
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3rd Grade Divisible by 2 Sorting Activity
Explore numbers divisible by 2 with this fun snowboard-themed sorting activity.
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Three Little Pigs Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for The Three Little Pigs.
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Little Red Riding Hood Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for Little Red Riding Hood.
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Jack and the Beanstalk Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for Jack and the Beanstalk.
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2nd Grade Odd and Even Monsters Sorting Activity
Sort odd and even numbers in this fun monster-themed sorting activity.
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Plant Life Cycle Sorting Activity
Help your students identify the stages in a plant’s life cycle with a sorting activity..
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Build a Food Chain - Sorting Activity
Create food chains for a variety of ecosystems with this hands-on, student-centered activity.
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Producer, Consumer and Decomposer - Sorting Activity
Explore the roles and relationships of producers, consumers and decomposers in food chains with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Real-World 3D Shapes - Sorting Activity
Practice identifying and sorting three-dimensional shapes with this set of 24 sorting cards.
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Place Value Cacti - 3-Digit Expanded Form Activity
A fun place value activity for students to play in the classroom when exploring 3-digit numbers and expanded forms.
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Comparing Fractions – Sorting Activity
Strengthen fraction comparison skills by sorting cards according to the inequality symbol that makes each statement true.
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Dictionary Skills - Guide Words Sorting Mats
Practice using guide words in a dictionary with this popcorn-themed sorting activity.
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Pot of Gold Sort - 2D and 3D Shapes
Sort coins that feature 2D shapes and 3D objects into their corresponding pots with a St. Patricks Day theme!
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Force and Motion Sorting Activity
Show students force and motion examples with this force and motion sorting activity for elementary school science lessons.
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Community Helpers - Pictures/Posters
A set of 38 half-size community helpers picture posters showing different community helpers and where they work.