Nature Sorting

Yea for sunshine!  Isaac (3.5 years) helped me find some things in nature to sort.  We ended up with sticks, lots of leaves, acorns, grass and rocks.

We had a great time talking about different ways to sort them.  Isaac did need some suggesting to see beyond sorting the items by type.  He was content putting the leaves in a pile, the acorns in a pile, etc.  But I wanted him to go a little deeper. 

Our first sorting method was things that grow on trees and things you find on the ground.  It was interesting to see how a 3 year old's mind works!  He really had to think about each item because we had found them all on the ground even though some of them started in a tree.

Our second method of sorting, which got cut short by a 3 year old's attention span, was sorting by color.  Isaac decided on a green group (grass and green leaves), a brown group (acorns, sticks and brown leaves), and a gray group (rocks.)  After sorting items into those groups he was off to the swing set.  :)

How are you and your little ones enjoying Autumn?

Silverware Sorting

Putting the silverware away when the dishwasher is clean is one of Isaac's chores.  And while he's helping out and learning about work, he's also learning about sorting. 

He loves feeling grown up by helping, and I love the help!

Montessori Sorting

I've seen this Montessori type of fine motor skill activity and finally created one for Isaac to work with. We used a bath decal, turned upside down as the base. For the activity, Isaac picks up a bead with the tongs and places it in one of the suction cups on the dinosaur.

Button Color Sorting

We had so much fun sorting buttons this week! I laid out some squares of felt I'd cut for a button snake from all the colors of the rainbow. Then Isaac matched buttons to their corresponding colors.

Once he's done he loves to carry the buttons around in a Tupperware container. He has created other activities, such as naming the buttons, counting them, lining them up, and singing songs about them! We've got buttons on our mind!

We used buttons that Nana has collected over the years, but I would love to buy this Chenille Kraft Big Bag of Plastic Buttons from Amazon. Or use a 40% off coupon and find some buttons at Joann's or Michael's!

PS: I made some extra sets! You can now buy one in my etsy shop!