Category: Sorting

Shaped Pasta Find

4/23/2016

shaped pasta that can be used in preschool and kindergarten

I went to Walmart today and found bags of shaped pasta that would be awesome for sorting and counting activities. They price was listed at 3.50 per bag but that may vary from store to store.

There were three different themes:

- ocean
- transportation
- space

Each bag contains three different colors of pasta in a variety of pasta shapes.

ocean themed pasta

transportation themed pasta

space themed pasta

How fun are these? We are going to sort by shape (cars ... trains ... airplanes etc) and then we are going to sort by color. We will then count how many we have sorted.

Because the pasta is small remember to user supervision when working with children under the age of three and those still in the stages of putting items in their mouths.

Let me know if you were able to find the shaped pasta and where. Also what activities you will be doing with them!!

12 Comments

Easy To Make Button Drop

3/18/2016

5 Comments

math and fine motor button drop for preschool and kindergarten

I put together a math and fine motor activity that uses pringles potato chip canisters and buttons. It is really easy to set up and I think it turned out super cute.

button drop math and fine motor activity for preschool and kindergarten

You will need to have an empty and clean pringles canister ... glue ... scissors ... an exacto knife ... and something to cover your can with. I made mine with scrapbook paper.

I measured the scrapbook paper to fit the length of the can and cut it to size using a paper cutter. I then applied glue to the back of the scrapbook paper.

The next step was to roll to carefully roll the paper around the canister making sure it was even. I then glue my "button drop" label on to the front of the can. You can find that label here.

I used an exacto knife to cut an opening on the cover of the canister. I made mine a slimmer opening so that the children would have to push the buttons more to get them to drop into the canister. You can make yours a bigger opening if you choose to.

In this activity children pick up the buttons and push them through the opening at the top of the canister. I used medium size buttons in a variety of colors because I wanted the children to also sort and count the buttons after they had finished dropping them in the can.

The children also used a dice with this activity for additional math practice. They rolled the dice and then put in the same number of buttons into the can. When all of buttons had been dropped into the can they took the lid off the can and emptied all of the buttons on to the table. The next step was to sort the buttons by color and then count them.

You can see a video of this activity below:

5 Comments

Fishbowl Alphabet Sort

2/9/2016

9 Comments

fishbowl alphabet sort for preschool and kindergarten

fishbowl number sort also added to the member's section

Here is a fishbowl uppercase and lowercase sorting activity. I printed all the patterns on cardstock paper ... cut them out and attached the letter fish to craft sticks.

I attached the fishbowls to the front of clear plastic cups and set them out along with the letter fish. In this activity the children put the fish into the correct cups based on whether it was an uppercase or a lowercase letter.

The fishbowls can also be glued onto a sheet of construction or cardstock paper and the children would put the loose fish (not attached onto craft sticks) on the correct mats. As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where the fishbowl number sort is located.

9 Comments

Button Color Sorting

8/7/2015

2 Comments

Button color sorting for preschool and kindergarten

We did a color sorting activity that the children really enjoyed. I purchased buttons from the crafts store and walmart which came in six different color and in a variety of sizes.

The button colors matched the color sorting bowls that I purchased from amazon.com. I set the buttons out along with the empty sorting bowls and the children sorted the buttons into the correct bowls.

After the buttons had all been sorted the children estimated which color had the most buttons and the least buttons. We then counted the buttons. This activity was super easy to set up and not only did it work on colors and sorting but also fine motor skills. Because buttons are small objects please use supervision for children 3 and under and those still in the stages of putting items in their mouths.

2 Comments

Frog Color Sort

7/17/2015

5 Comments

Frog Color Sort For Preschool and Kindergarten

To help with color recognition I made a frog themed color sort activity that the children really enjoyed doing. I printed the frog patterns on cardstock paper and the color circles on regular paper.

I cut the frogs out and glued them on craft sticks and then cut the color circles out and glue them on clear plastic cups. There are twelve colors included with this activity so you will need twelve craft sticks and twelve plastic cups if you are going to use all of the colors.

I put the frog color sticks in a container and set them out with the color cups. You can choose what colors you would like to work on and make as many copies as you want of the color frogs to be used in each sorting cup.

In this activity children pick a colored frog stick from the container and put it in the cup with the same color circle. Play continues until all of the frog sticks have been placed in the cups. You can grab the patterns here and see a video of this activity below:

5 Comments

Tooth Fairy Letter Sort

2/18/2015

4 Comments

Tooth Fairy Letter Sorting Activity For Preschool and Kindergarten

We worked on letter identification with an uppercase vs. lowercase sorting activity. I printed the patterns on cardstock paper and laminated them. I then attached the uppercase and lowercase tags to baskets I purchased from the dollar store.

I set the baskets and letter cards out in our center and the children picked a card ... said what letter it was and then put it in the correct basket based on whether it was an uppercase or lowercase letter.

The children really enjoyed this activity so I will be making more of them for different themes!! I did include alternate sorting tags that read "Uppercase Letters" and "Lowercase Letters" instead of tags with all upper or all lower.

You can see a video of this activity here or by clicking below: