Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers: Sorting

Play Attention improves the cognitive skills that lay the foundation for strong Executive Functioning, but many of our clients would like to know other activities they can do outside of their Play Attention sessions to improve cognitive skills even more.  In the coming weeks, we'll be giving specific examples of such activities divided into age category.  This week, let's talk about toddlers and preschoolers:

Activity 1 for Toddlers and Preschoolers: Sorting
Areas developed: General Organization/General Adaptability

A great example of a sorting game involves a standard deck of playing cards.  Lay all of the cards out face up--or just a few, if your child feels overwhelmed by too many cards.  We may have to gradually build up to a full deck.  Regardless, once the cards are laid out, tell your child that the objective of this fun game is to sort the cards according to color, (black cards go in one pile, red cards go in another). Once your child can successfully and consistently sort in this way, make things more challenging by telling them the new goal is to sort the cards according to the shapes on them: cards with diamonds go in one pile, cards with hearts go in another, etc. Once they are successful in being able to do this, make things even more challenging by telling them the goal is to sort the cards by number: jacks go in one pile, eights go in another, etc.

This gradual progression in difficulty allows them to develop cognitive skills related to organization with a minimum of frustration.  Plus, by periodically switching up the criteria for sorting, you are teaching them to adapt to changing situations, which is often difficult for children with attention issues.

Sorting of this kind is an excellent activity for younger children, and using a deck of cards is only one example.  You could just as easily use Lego's, or army men, of stuffed animals, or socks, or any group of objects with defining characteristics conducive for sorting.   

Remember, start slow with sorting that is relatively easy, and then build from there in terms of complexity.  Like any skills, organization and adaptability do not come naturally to everyone, so taking things slow and at the child's own pace facilitate the most positive results.