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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Equivalent Fractions - Cookie Jar Sorting Activity
Review equivalent fractions with this whole-class sorting activity that gets students moving and simplifying!
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Word Family Sorting Cards
Reinforce word families and rhyming words with your students with this set of 36 sorting cards.
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Communication in the Past and Present- Sorting Activity
A fun sorting activity for students to identify old and new communication devices.
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Herbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores – Sorting Activity
Determine if animals are omnivores, carnivores, or herbivores based on their diet with this sorting activity.
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Snowflake Syllables - Winter Reading Center
Help students practice breaking words into syllables and identifying open and closed syllables with a winter literacy center.
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Penguin Syllable Sorting Activity
Count syllables to help these chilly penguins escape the frigid water by sorting them onto the correct ice floes.
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Thanksgiving Picture Puzzles - Multiplication
Practice 1-digit multiplication facts with a fun set of Thanksgiving picture puzzles
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Numerical Expressions Sort!
Solve and sort numerical expressions according to different categories with this sorting activity.
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Spring Syllables - Syllable Sort
Save the baby birds by clapping and counting syllables in words with this Spring syllable sorting activity.
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Digraph Activity - Monster Mash Sort
Build phonemic awareness with a printable digraph sorting activity.
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Government Types – Fact Cards and Sorting Activity
Review the different forms of government and sort them into different categories with this sorting activity.
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Which Sound? Sorting Activity - The Letter G
Practice identifying the different sounds made by the letter G with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Sorting Activity - Hard and Soft Sound of C
Practice identifying the different sounds made by the letter C with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Which Letter? Sorting Activity - K or C
Practice identifying when to begin words with the letter K or the letter C with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Word Family Pumpkin Sort
Enhance your phonics lessons with a pumpkin-themed word family sorting activity.
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Pumpkin Syllables Sorting Center
Practice segmenting and counting syllables in words with this Fall syllable sorting activity.
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Apple Activities - Short and Long Vowel Sort
Supplement your phonics lessons with an apple-themed initial sound sorting activity.
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Beginning Sound Sort - Apple Edition
Fall into letter-sound correspondence with this apple-themed letter/sound match-up center activity.
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Effects of Physical Location Sort
Help children learn how the environment affects those that live in a specific area with a sorting activity.
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How Would I Feel? Sorting Activity
Develop emotional vocabulary using these real-life scenario cards.
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Water Cycle Sort – Sorting Activity
Use knowledge of the steps in the water cycle to categorize examples with this sorting activity.
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Subitizing Sorting Activity
Practice recognizing the quantity of a small group of objects with this subitizing sorting activity.
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Tattling vs Telling Sorting Activity
Explore the differences between “tattling” and “telling” with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Poetry Match Game - Elements of Poetry Activity
Practice identifying poetic elements in examples of poems with a poetry sorting activity for fourth grade and fifth grade.
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Positive and Negative Coping Skills - Sorting Activity
Explore the difference between positive and negative coping skills with these real-life scenario sorting cards.
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Rules Around Us Sorting Activity
Identify rules at home, in school, and around the community with a sorting activity.
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Prepositional Phrase Task Cards - Grades 3-4
Identify prepositional phrases and use them within sentences with this set of 20 task cards.
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How to Be a Good Citizen - Sorting Center
Grow a new batch of good citizens with a citizenship sorting activity.
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Good Citizens Around Town Sorting Activity
Discover how to be a good citizen at home, school, and community with citizenship for kids sorting activity.
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Google Interactive S-Blends Activity
Help your readers practice their S-blend skills with fun, interactive Google Slides word-building activities.
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U.S. Branches of Government Sorting Activity
Learn about the branches of the U.S. government, each branch's responsibilities and those that are involved in each branch using a sorting activity.
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Government Services Sort
Provide students with practice identifying services provided by the government.