Sorting Activities for Teachers
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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Simple Sentence Building Activity - Caterpillar
Use this simple sentence building activity in the form of a caterpillar to have students identify the parts of a simple sentence.
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Percent Decimal Fraction Worksheet
Download this percent decimal fraction worksheet to give your students hands-on practice matching fraction, decimal, and percent equivalents.
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Affixes Word Building Puzzle Activity
Build words with affixes with a pack of printable word-building puzzles.
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How Sound Is Made - Sorting Activity
Sort instruments that need to be plucked, blown, struck, or shaken to produce sound with our printable ‘How Sound Is Made’ Sorting Activity.
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Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition – Sorting Activity
Categorize examples of deposition, weathering, and erosion with this 24-card sorting activity.
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Patterns in Nature - Science Sorting Activity
Explore and observe patterns in nature with a printable Patterns In Nature Sorting Activity.
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Fossil Sort - Types of Fossils Activity
Identify and sort fossils with a hands-on, no-prep Types of Fossils 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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Push and Pull Sorting Activity
Use these push and pull sorting cards as a hands-on activity during your science lessons on forces.
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Figurative Language Sorting Activity
Explore figurative language in context with this set of 28 sorting cards.
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Types of Heat Transfer Sorting Activity
Explore examples of conduction, convection, and radiation with an engaging Types of Heat Transfer Sorting Activity.
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First, Then, Finally Sort and Writing Template
Help your students sequence ideas for a narrative story with these narrative element prompts and a First Then Finally Writing Template.
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Five Senses Sorting Activity
Explore the five senses with your little learners using a printable 5 Senses Science Sorting Activity.
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Winter Survival Adaptations - Sorting Activity
Match the animals with the behavioral adaptation that helps them survive the winter in this printable animal adaptation sorting activity.
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Acquired or Inherited? Trait Sort
Identify the differences between acquired and inherited traits with an engaging picture sort for 5th Grade.
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Parts of Speech Word Cards Sorting Activity
Engage your students with this parts of speech group activity where they sort 112 word cards into categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, coordinating conjunctions or prepositions).
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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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Classifying Angles – 4th Grade Sorting Activity
Help students recognize different types of angles in everyday life with this hands-on 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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Selecting Units of Mass – Sorting Activity
A sorting activity to help students identify objects that should be measured in ounces, pounds, and tons.
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Living vs Nonliving Things - Sorting Activity
Sort biotic vs. abiotic things and discuss their characteristics with a hands-on living and nonliving things picture sort.
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Push and Pull Toy Sorting Activity
Explore types of forces and practise classification skills with a printable Push and Pull Toy Sorting Activity.
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Roll, Slide or Bounce? Toy Sorting Activity
Explore movement, sorting, and classification with a printable ‘How It Moves’ Toy Sorting Activity.
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Base Word Sorting Activity
Use this Base Word Sorting activity to help students sort words based on their root words.
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Facial Expressions and Gestures Sorting Activity
The Facial Expressions and Gestures Activity is the perfect hands-on resource to help students recognise and understand the many ways we communicate without words.
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Complete Sentence vs Fragment Sentence Sort
Make sentence structure lessons engaging and hands-on with this playful Complete Sentence vs Fragment sorting activity.
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Parallel and Perpendicular Lines in 2D Shapes Sorting Activity
Identify parallel and perpendicular lines in 2D shapes in this engaging sorting activity!
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Sort It Out! - 4 Types of Sentences Practice Activity
Practice sorting and matching examples of the four types of sentences (command, statement, question, exclamation) with a 1st Grade Types of Sentences Practice Game.
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Making Predictions With Pictures Prompt Cards
Encourage early reading comprehension by using Making Predictions with Pictures Prompt Cards to help students develop critical thinking and inference skills through visual storytelling.
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Big Problem or Little Problem? – Sorting Activity
Use our Big Problem vs. Little Problem activity cards and worksheets to help your students learn to manage peer relationships in the classroom.
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Literary Elements Fairy Tale Sorting Activity
Explore literary elements with this fairy tale sorting activity in the shape of a castle.
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Scientific Investigation Scenarios - Sorting Activity
Analyze scientific investigation scenarios to determine which stage in the scientific method is being described with a printable Scientific Method Sorting Activity.