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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Analyzing Situations Sorting Activity
Use this sorting activity with your students to practice analyzing situations for their problems, consequences and possible solutions.
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Parts of Speech Word Cards Sorting Activity
Engage your students with this parts of speech group activity where they sort 112 word cards into categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, coordinating conjunctions or prepositions).
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Rhetorical Devices Sorting Activity
Explore rhetorical devices with your students using this set of sorting cards.
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Three Little Pigs Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for The Three Little Pigs.
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Little Red Riding Hood Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for Little Red Riding Hood.
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Focusing on Strengths Sorting Cards
Identify individual strengths with this set of strength vocabulary sorting cards.
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Classifying Triangles (By Angles) – 4th Grade Math Activity
Play this sorting game when learning how to classify triangles according to their internal angles.
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Odd and Even Numbers Sorting Activity
Identify and sort 2- and 3-digit numbers into odd and even categories.
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Producer, Consumer and Decomposer - Sorting Activity
Explore the roles and relationships of producers, consumers and decomposers in food chains with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Objects in the Sky – Sorting Activity
Determine if statements about different objects in the sky are true or false with this sorting activity.
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Comparing Fractions – Sorting Activity
Strengthen fraction comparison skills by sorting cards according to the inequality symbol that makes each statement true.
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Sustainability Activity - Caring for the Environment Sort
Promote sustainable living with a sustainability sorting activity.
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Famous Colonists Cut and Paste Worksheet
Show what you know about famous American colonists with a cut-and-paste Colonial Americans worksheet.
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Spring Short and Long Vowel Sort
Practice distinguishing short and long vowels with a Spring-themed short and long vowel sorting activity.
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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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Equivalent Fractions - Cookie Jar Sorting Activity
Review equivalent fractions with this whole-class sorting activity that gets students moving and simplifying!
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Force and Motion Sorting Activity
Show students force and motion examples with this force and motion sorting activity for elementary school science lessons.
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Numerical Expressions Sort!
Solve and sort numerical expressions according to different categories with this sorting activity.
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Spring Syllables - Syllable Sort
Save the baby birds by clapping and counting syllables in words with this Spring syllable 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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Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences Sorting Activity
Practice reading, identifying and writing simple, compound, and complex sentences with a sorting activity.
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How to Be a Good Citizen - Sorting Center
Grow a new batch of good citizens with a citizenship sorting activity.
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Dressing for the Physical Environment Sorting Activity
Help children learn about dressing for the environment by sorting clothing items into categories for warm climate and cold climate.
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Verb Tenses Sorting Activity
Explore verb tenses through an engaging, hands‑on sorting activity that helps students confidently identify past, present and future tense sentences.
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Things I Can and Cannot Control – Sorting Activity
Help students identify things in life they can and cannot control with this sorting activity.
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Google Interactive Activity- Reading, Spelling, and Rhyming Word Families
Build skill with word families, rhyming words, and more with a Google Slides Interactive Word Family Activity.
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Alphabetical Order Card Sort - Set 2
A set of word cards to practice putting words in alphabetical order.
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Alphabetical Order Card Sort - Set 1
A set of word cards to practice putting words in alphabetical order.
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Push and Pull Sorting Activity
Use these push and pull sorting cards as a hands-on activity during your science lessons on forces.
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Text Structures Sorting Activity
A set of 24 text structure cards to use in a sorting or scoot activity.
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Beginning Sounds Sorting Activity
Practice identifying beginning sounds of words by sorting this set of 24 picture cards.