What's The Point

The purpose of this activity is to help your child notice details, follow simple directions, and sort objects – all important steps toward gathering and understanding information (data collection and analysis).

From the Virtual Pre-K: Ready For Math toolkit

This Activity Will Help Your Child

• Follow simple instructions
• Notice differences
• learn about sorting objects
• Identify patterns

Book Suggestions

• Shoes, Shoes, Shoes
  by Ann Morris
• I Spy Numbers
  by Jean Marzollo

Supplies

• None needed

How Do I Do It?

Invite your child to help with the sorting you do every day during household chores.

• Let him/her help separate laundry into light and dark piles for washing.
• Have him/her sort shoes or winter items (e.g., hats, mittens, gloves) by family member.
• Have him/her sort clean silverware into groups (e.g., spoons, forks, knives that are safe for children to handle), count each group, and then help put them away.
• Give him/her a small handful of coins to sort by size or color.

Take It Further

Give your child encouraging words and gentle correction as he/she works to build sorting skills. For example: "I can see you're working really hard at this. I'm proud of you!" "Oops, I think a fork made it into the spoon pile. Where should we put it?" "You look a little frustrated. Can we try sorting this together?" Explain to your child how you decide what goes where. For example: "This coin is a penny and it's brown. This coin is a dime and it's smaller and silver. So I'm going to put the brown coins in this pile, and the silver coins in that one."