Counting and sorting has always been a favorite activity for each of my kids. You can find a variety of sorting activities and games to purchase, or you can create new games with every day around-the-house items. For preschoolers, finding small objects to sort is not only intreging to busy little hands, but also helps with fine motor skills.
- an assortment of dried beans – you can usually find a bag of mixed beans in the dried bean section of your grocery store.
- various small containers – we used empty mini playdough cans and plastic measuring cups. Any kind of container will do, just make sure it is size appropriate for the work space. If you don’t have containers, you can simply sort into piles on the table.
How to do it:
Demonstrate to your child how to put different beans in different containers. Show them how to find matches by type or color. Then let your child take it from there. Talk about counting or different sizes. As your child begins to work with the different items, they will find new ways to sort.
As your child gets the hang of this type of activity, you can change it up with different types of items. Here we added some dried noodles.
The kids think its pretty neat to be able to play games with food items, and you’ll appreciate the new low cost fun.
Please make sure to supervise young kids with small items.