Sorting and Categorizing

Provide lots of opportunities to explore many kinds of materials that can be sorted and categorized by size or shape. These include small plastic toys such as animals and vehicles, Unifix cubes (or other "manipulatives"), blocks, or other small objects such as coins, stamps, cups, and bottle caps. Have children explore different ways sort objects into similar groups. The groups, or categories, could be general concepts such as "hard things" "soft things" or something personal, such as "things that were gifts," "things I found."