Stuffed Animal Sorting

Activity Overview

Sorting and classifying are two primary practices in mathematical thinking that also allow young children to work on blossoming vocabulary and expressive language skills. These activities are integral to the development of critical thinking and establishes the foundation for complex problem-solving as children grow. Sorting and classifying involve separating objects into groups according to their similarities – or attributes. When a child notices what makes objects similar, they also notice their differences – a practice in comparing and contrasting. Young children can engage in this type of work over and over again. As they revisit this work and master employed strategies, adults can add new challenges and extend their thinking to new limits.

What You Need

• 10 stuffed animals, animal figurines, or toys

• A large open space to sort the animals

Steps

1. Examine the stuffed animals together. Guide the student in describing their characteristics of the animals by asking them questions about the animals’ attributes.

2. Discuss similarities and differences between the animals with regards to the characteristics the student has described. For example, if describing an elephant, ask the student, “Which of these other animals also has four legs? Which other animals have ears? Which other animals are gray like the elephant?”

3. Together, think of ways to sort the animals into different groups according to particular attributes. Let the student share their ideas first before the adult adds theirs. As the student generates ideas for how to sort the animals, encourage them to physically sort the animals by picking up and placing animals that share the same attribute in the same area. For example, the animals could be sorted into tall animals and short animals.

4. Repeat step three as many times as desired, using different attributes each time (sorting by color, number of legs, with or without a tail, patterns)

Guiding Questions

• What color are the animals?

• What patterns do they have?

• How big are they? How small are they?

• How many arms do they have? How many legs do they have?

• Which ones have a tail? Claws? Wings? Scales? Fur?

• Which other animals are the same? Which are different?

Extensions

• Count how many animals are in each group after sorting. When counting, guide the student to physically touch and move the animal as they count it.

• Using the Number Dot Cards from the Number Dot Cards activity, ask the student to choose the number card that corresponds to the number of animals in each group.

• Spread the Number Dot Cards around the room. Ask the student to count out an amount of animals and place them with the corresponding number cards.