Don’t you want to build a strong foundation for complex math problems right from his early age?
Check out one to one correspondence post, another important and simple pre-math activity.
What I like the best, is that you don’t need any expensive items to teach these math skills.
In fact, sorting comes naturally for younger children. They need not be taught to do so.
Plus, they are self-correcting which Montessori philosophies keep emphasizing.
And hey, they are simple to do with very little prep work and it is so perfect for my lazy Sunday mornings 🙂
Why sorting?
You help your toddler understand that there are same and different objects.
It becomes easy for your toddler to compare and contrast easily.
Your toddler gets the idea of what is less and more (indirectly)
When your child sorts it, it is easy to count, add and divide (later).
What should you keep in mind when sorting?
Start with concrete sorting (real objects) rather than abstract sorting (just printables)
Start with one attribute and then move onto sorting by different attributes. Evolve from easy to hard.
Eg: 1. Sort tomatoes from onions
2. Sort grapes from plums
3.Sort vegetables from fruits. This is called sorting by groups.
Sorting examples and ideas to be inspired
Tactile sorting
Thermic sorting
Auditory(Sound) sorting
Olfactory(smell)Sorting
Gustatory(Taste) Sorting
Visual sorting
Size Sorting
How to extend this activity for an older child?
Use two or more attributes to sort
Use tongs, tweezers or spoons to sort.
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Great idea’s to use this with older children. My son is a pro with a spoon but I had not thought to use tongs or tweezers. Will be giving that a try!
Thank You for reading… Please give it a try . It helps developing hand dexterity as well 🙂
This was really interesting to read! I’ve heard so much about Montessori, but didn’t know much about it. I’ll have to try out sorting and see how it goes!
Karin, please do try.. You would be amazed to see how much your little one could do
My toddler is really into sorting right now. This gave me some great new ideas!
Thank You 🙂
These are great! I will have to use these for my 2.5 year old. He loves doing things like these!!
Thank You.. Please let me know how it goes 🙂
I love sorting with my daughter! It’s such a fun activity…especially when it involves sorting Halloween candy. LOL
Aww… Candy!!! you had me at that 🙂
The bean sorting is really a brain wave.. I am gonna get my kiddo busy with it right away.. thanks for sharing the superb idea
Thank You. Did you try them?
My kids are in elementary school. I’ll have to try out the sorting using a spoon or tweezers. They’ll get a kick out of it, I know!
Yeah, they would.. are they homeschooled?
Thanks for the great ideas! I cant wait to work on sorting with my almost 4 month old.
Brittany
http://www.BeckyandBrittany.com
Thank You.. Happened to check out your website.. Looks cool 🙂
I love the idea of having kids sort warm and cold items. We’re going to try that, and some of the others!
That was a hit at our home. Please do try 🙂
I have been doing these type of activities with my DD since she was almost 2 years-old. She is now 4 and we try to sort more difficult objects like jagged puzzle pieces from flat edged pieces or small, medium, & large containers. I love the Montessori method for at home teaching because there are so many practical life skills that kids can learn. I was inspired by other mom bloggers when we chose to use these techniques and I know that by sharing these tips that it will change someone’s perspective on early learning education. Thanks for sharing!
Rachael, yeah Montessori was a genius.. Like she said “This philosophy prepares the child for life ” 🙂
We used a lot of sorting to teach My son who lives with Autism. Excellent post.
Thank You 🙂
Love your blog, I have a toddler and it’s so cool learning new activities to do with him or seeing ones that I’ve been doing.
Thank You:-_ do try them at home 🙂
I love the Montessori style of learning. My daughter is 2.5 years old and I am currently teaching her to count, so I am going to use this post! Thank you.
Oh, we are doing some premath activities as well… Will write more about it 🙂
Just wanted to let you know that I pinned this post to Pinterest and I am subscribing! <3
Thank you:-) Pinterest is the trend i guess 🙂
I practice sorting with my son. Like items, colors, shapes, etc. I’m not sure he gets it just yet (he’s not quite 10 months yet) but I do feel like I’m helping him learn new skills.
this is so cool. I need to pin these for my homeschool friends
Thank You.. Hope your friends try this as well 🙂
I love sorting ideas! These are great. I’ll be using them ASAP!
Thank You 🙂
Arietlcs like this make life so much simpler.
Love the idea of the sorting- trying with my niece
Wonderful ideas. Sorting is so much fun for kids. So far we do shape and colour sorting. There are so many more activities that we can do. Thanks for sharing the ideas.
Great ideas! I will try these with my son, he is so into matching things at the moment and sorting as an activity goes hand in hand. Thankyou for the ideas.
So far I’ve been making my 20 months sort by colour and shape. I realize now that both are sight based and I never even thought of sorting by smell, sound, texture etc. Great ideas and I am going to try them for sure!
This are wonderful examples and ideas. Children love sorting. I haven’t read about so many ideas on sorting before. Your post is very helpful.
Those are some really amazing ideas! Please post some activities for under 12 months too
Always love your educational posts that are so fun and informative. Will be sure to try this as my little one grows up!
These are such brilliant ideas. Will keep them in mind in the future. Thanks for sharing.
Such an informative post. I did not know so many ways for sorting. This isn’t very helpful and informative.
This is a coool list of sorting activities that can be done with stuff easily available at home. Thanks for this very informative post.
sorting is one of our fav activity too and keeps my little one busy for hours till now we have tried colour and type sorting will definetly try the other suggested by you..
These are some great ideas to teach kids about a lot of things. Montessori methods have easy and practical way of doing things.