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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Possessive Pronouns Sorting Activity
Use this sorting activity in your grammar lessons to teach your students about possessive pronouns.
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Time Sort - Morning, Afternoon & Evening Activity
Help your students learn about different times of day (morning, afternoon, and evening) with a Times of Day Sorting activity.
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Movement of Animals Sorting Activity
Spark discussion among your students about how animals move with a fun set of animal locomotion picture cards.
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Day or Night Sorting Activity
Help your little learners understand and apply the concepts of day and night with this fun sorting activity.
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Instinct vs. Learned Behavior Sort
Help your students determine the difference between a learned behavior and an instinct with a thought-provoking sorting activity.
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Analyzing Situations Sorting Activity
Use this sorting activity with your students to practice analyzing situations for their problems, consequences and possible solutions.
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Little Red Riding Hood Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for Little Red Riding Hood.
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Growth or Fixed Mindset Sorting Activity
Help students understand the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset with this sorting activity.
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Classifying Triangles (By Angles) – 4th Grade Math Activity
Play this sorting game when learning how to classify triangles according to their internal angles.
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Plant Life Cycle Sorting Activity
Help your students identify the stages in a plant’s life cycle with a sorting activity..
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Producer, Consumer and Decomposer - Sorting Activity
Explore the roles and relationships of producers, consumers and decomposers in food chains with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Real-World 3D Shapes - Sorting Activity
Practice identifying and sorting three-dimensional shapes with this set of 24 sorting cards.
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Comparing Fractions – Sorting Activity
Strengthen fraction comparison skills by sorting cards according to the inequality symbol that makes each statement true.
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Man-made vs. Natural Features - Sorting Activity
Identify the natural and human features of environments with this sorting activity.
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CVC Word Chain Sequencing Cards
Practice building word chains involving CVC words with these word chain sequencing cards.
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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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Numerical Expressions Sort!
Solve and sort numerical expressions according to different categories with this sorting activity.
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Digraph Activity - Monster Mash Sort
Build phonemic awareness with a printable digraph sorting activity.
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Forms of Energy Sorting Activity
Help students identify the different forms of energy with this set of 24 sorting cards.
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Fall Parts of Speech Sort - Nouns Verbs Adjectives
Review three parts of speech by sorting nouns, verbs, and adjectives with a parts of speech sorting activity.
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Cut and Paste: Characteristics of Communities
Identify characteristics of the different types of communities (urban, rural, suburban) with a cut-and-paste sorting worksheet.
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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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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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Subject Verb Agreement Sentences Sort
Get your students sorting subject-verb agreement sentences quickly and effectively with this engaging hands-on activity.
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Verb Tenses Sorting Activity
Explore verb tenses through an engaging, hands‑on sorting activity that helps students confidently identify past, present and future tense sentences.
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Text Structures Sorting Activity
A set of 24 text structure cards to use in a sorting or scoot activity.
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Goods and Services Sorting Activity
Identify things as either "goods" or "services" by looking at 20 examples and sorting them into their appropriate category.
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Punctuation in a Pouch - End Punctuation Sorting Center
A fun, marsupial-themed activity to help your students with editing and punctuation.
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Fact File Sorting Activity
Use this fact sorting activity to teach your students about informational writing.
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Food Choices Sorting Activity
A sorting activity to help students recognize healthy and unhealthy foods.
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Let's Sort It! - 2D and 3D Shapes
Play this sorting game when learning about the properties of 2D and 3D shapes.
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Comparing Collections Sorting Activity
Support students in comparing quantities by providing an easy, hands‑on activity that lets them sort items and decide if they can be shared evenly.