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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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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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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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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Alliteration Sorting by Beginning Sound Activity
Explore beginning sounds and alliteration with this engaging and age-appropriate picture sort activity—perfect for your phonics and early literacy lessons.
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Noun Phrase Examples Sorting Activity
Teach noun phrase examples with this hands-on sorting activity where students decide whether the order of adjectives in each noun phrase is correct or incorrect.
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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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Build a Sentence Activity - Sentence Clothesline
Create simple sentences with this printable Build a Sentence Activity Sentence Clothesline resource.
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Fiction and Nonfiction Sorting Cards
Explore fiction and nonfiction book features with this sorting activity.
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Sentence Building Cards and Mat
Use these Sentence Building Cards with Mat to explore the main features of a simple sentence with your Kinder students.
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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.
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Simple Machines Sorting Activity
A fun sorting activity to use in the classroom when learning about simple machines and how they work.
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Real and Make-Believe Picture Sort
Explore real vs make believe pictures with this sorting activity.
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Compare and Contrast Images Activity Pack
Boost visual literacy and critical thinking in your classroom with this Compare and Contrast Images Activity Pack.
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What Can The Wind Move? Kindergarten Science Activity
Use this Kindergarten Science Activity to teach your students about wind and what it can move in the world around them.
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Sort It Out! Common and Proper Nouns Game
Use common and proper noun games to help your students practice identifying examples of different types of nouns.
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Comparing Capacity Kindergarten and 1st Grade Activity
Share this comparing capacity kindergarten and 1st grade activity with your students to introduce them to early measurement concepts.
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Parallel and Perpendicular Lines Game — Sorting Activity
Play this parallel and perpendicular lines game in your classroom to give students practice sorting lines into intersecting, parallel, or perpendicular line categories.
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Emoji-Sentence Sorting Activity (1-2)
Teach your students about statement, command, exclamation, and question sentences with our Emoji Sentence sorting activity.
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Sorting by Category - Vocabulary Activity
Early readers can practice sorting and decoding with this category sorting board activity for 1 to 4 players.
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Identifying Colors Game
Explore colors with your students using this fun and engaging identifying colors game.
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Above and Below the Line Behaviors - Sorting Activity
Remind students of behaviors that are "above the line", "below the line", and "bottom-line" with this sorting activity.
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Rounding Whole Numbers Worksheets
Share these rounding whole numbers worksheets with your students so they can cut-and-paste their way to understanding rounding.
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Sort It Out! Properties of Matter Activity
Use our Properties of Matter Sorting Activity cards to create an engaging Matter Sorting Station in your classroom.
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Types of Physical Change - Science Sort
Sort examples of physical changes with a printable Types of Physical Change Science Sort.