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.
- Free Plan
Plant and Animal Sort - Task Cards
Sort plants and animals using different characteristics with a set of task cards and picture cards.
- Plus Plan
Fact and Opinion Sort - Interactive or Printable Activity
Practice differentiating between fact and opinion with this set of 24 sorting cards or a Google Slides Interactive activity.
- Free Plan
Insulators & Conductors Sorting Activity
Distinguish between insulators and conductors with a picture-based sorting activity.
- Plus Plan
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).
- Free Plan
Classifying Angles – 4th Grade Sorting Activity
Help students recognize different types of angles in everyday life with this hands-on sorting activity.
- Free Plan
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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Animals and Their Habitats - Sorting Activity
Discover the habitats that are home to Earth’s wildlife with a printable animal habitat sorting activity.
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Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources – Sorting Activity
Categorize resources as either renewable or nonrenewable with this 24-card sorting activity
- Free Plan
Forms of Energy Sorting Activity
Help students identify the different forms of energy with this set of 24 sorting cards.
- Plus Plan
Cut and Paste: Characteristics of Communities
Identify characteristics of the different types of communities (urban, rural, suburban) with a cut-and-paste sorting worksheet.
- Free Plan
Self-Esteem Heart Activity
Help students boost their self-esteem with this lovely heart-themed activity
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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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Synonym Roll Sorting Center
Encourage your kids to take a bite out of language learning with our sweet “Synonym Roll” sorting activity.
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Building Words with Prefixes Sorting Activity
Build words by matching the root word to prefixes, recording the new words on the answer sheet.
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Herbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores – Sorting Activity
Determine if animals are omnivores, carnivores, or herbivores based on their diet with this sorting activity.
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Prepositional Phrase Task Cards - Grades 3-4
Identify prepositional phrases and use them within sentences with this set of 20 task cards.
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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 CVCC Word Building Activity
Practice building, reading, and writing words with consonants, vowels, blends, and digraphs while spelling CVCC words.
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Big Problem or Little Problem? – Sorting Activity
A sorting activity for students to place situations in order from the littlest problem to the biggest problem.
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What's the Author's Purpose? - Sorting Activity
A sorting activity to help students identify the author’s purpose for a piece of text.
- Plus Plan
Unit Fraction Sorting Activity
Explore different images of unit fractions with your students in this unit fraction sorting activity with fraction word and fraction heading cards.
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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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10 More 10 Less Sorting Card Game
Engage your students and have them practice reading statements about values 10 more or 10 less, then and determining if the statement is accurate.
- Plus Plan
Fact Family Math Blast Off - Addition and Subtraction
Demonstrate an understanding of addition and subtraction fact families with a fun cut and sort activity.
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Making Mistakes – Sorting Activity
Help your students recognize different types of mistakes and discuss ways to learn from them with this SEL activity.
- Plus Plan
Dictionary Sorting Game
Get students in the habit of researching with our dictionary activity that helps learners match a word to its definition and part of speech.
- Free Plan
Environmental Awareness Flip Book - Earth Day Activity
Use this flip book to build awareness of actions that are good and bad for the environment.
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Mixtures and Solutions Sort
Distinguish between mixtures and solutions with this 24-card sorting activity.
- Free Plan
Prime and Composite Number Sort
Identify prime and composite numbers by sorting 30 number cards into their proper category.
- Plus Plan
Fall Parts of Speech Sort - Nouns Verbs Adjectives
Review three parts of speech by sorting nouns, verbs, and adjectives with a parts of speech sorting activity.
- Plus Plan
U.S. Branches of Government Sorting Activity
Learn about the branches of the U.S. government, each branch's responsibilities and those that are involved in each branch using a sorting activity.
- Plus Plan
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.