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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Singular and Plural Possessives Task Cards
Practice writing phrases using the correct singular or plural possessive noun with a set of task cards.
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Mixtures and Solutions Sort
Distinguish between mixtures and solutions with this 24-card 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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Water Cycle Sort – Sorting Activity
Use knowledge of the steps in the water cycle to categorize examples with this sorting activity.
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Long Ago, Now, or In the Future Sort
Help your students develop a sense of history and how life, transportation, and communications have changed over time.
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Short and Long Vowels Google Interactive Activity
Read and identify short and long vowel sounds and place the pictures into the correct columns.
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Informative Paragraphs Sequencing Activity
Teach your students about informational text paragraph structure with this hands-on sequencing activity.
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Ordinal Stories and Sorting Activity
A fun, hands-on sorting activity to use when learning ordinal numbers.
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Seasons Sorting Activity
Teach students in K-2 the proper clothing, activities, and objects for different types of weather with this four seasons activity.
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Compound Sentence Strip Activity
Use these simple sentences and coordinating conjunctions to help students practice forming compound sentences.
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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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Patterns in Nature - Science Sorting Activity
Explore and observe patterns in nature with a printable Patterns In Nature Sorting Activity.
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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.
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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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Spin or Slide Sort - Science of Movement Activity
Group objects based on how they move with an engaging Spin or Slide? Science of Movement activity.
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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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Sorting Heat Conductors and Insulators Activity
Explore and identify examples of thermal energy conductors and insulators with a printable Heat Conductors and Insulators Activity.
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Hunting for Heat Sources Activity
Identify heat sources in the world around you with a printable Hunting for Heat Sources activity sheet.
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Metamorphic or Not? Life Cycle Sorting Activity
Identify animals with metamorphic and non-metamorphic life cycles with an engaging Life Cycle Sorting Activity.
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Does It Lay Eggs? Classifying Animals Game
Use our Does It Lay Eggs? Classifying Animals Game to identify examples of oviparous and viviparous animals.
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Parts of Plants Sorting Activity (K-2)
Identify roots, seeds, fruits, and other plant parts with a printable Parts of a Plant Sorting Activity for early learners.
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'Is It An Investigable Question?’ Sorting Activity
Help students determine examples of investigable science questions with our ‘Is It An Investigable Question’ sorting activity.
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Ways Things Move - Science Sorting Activity
Introduce your K-1 students to the world of motion and scientific categorization with a printable ‘How Things Move’ 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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Rhyming Sort Cookies Activity Mats
Use this cookie tray rhyming sort to explore the auditory component of rhyming words to develop phonemic awareness in your students.
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Heat Sources Sorting Activity
Explore various sources of heat and how they are produced with this printable Heat Energy Sorting activity.
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Types of Assertions Sorting Activity
Explore types of assertions with this interactive sorting activity that helps students distinguish between bare, generalized and supported assertions.
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Types of Dependent Clauses Sorting Activity
Teach the types of dependent clauses with this hands-on sorting activity that helps students explore sentence structure in a collaborative and engaging way.
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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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Fiction and Nonfiction Sorting Cards
Explore fiction and nonfiction book features with this 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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Formal vs. Informal Language Sorting Activity
Engage students in identifying formal vs informal language with this sorting activity that helps build understanding through real-world sentence examples.