Your Child Will Learn
How to sort objects into different categories and describe characteristics of objects
Here’s What to Do
- Ask your child for help putting away kitchen items like dishes, utensils, pots. (Before you begin, you can put away items that might not be safe for a child to handle.)
- Before putting items where they belong, ask your child to sort them into categories that might help you put them away.
- Ask your child why they sorted the items this way. If you usually organize items in a different way, explain your system and ask your child to re-sort by a different characteristic.
- (Optional) Ask your child to put items back where they belong. Celebrate when everything is put away!
Put PEER Into Action
PAUSE
- “Can you help me with this important job of putting the dishes away?”
ENGAGE
- “Can you help organize things that go together into stacks or piles?”
- “I’m wondering why you put these here? What’s the difference between the plates in this pile and the plates in this pile?”
ENCOURAGE
- Try not to tell your child how to sort when they get started, instead let them come up with their own categories.
- After your child sorts, explain how you might sort differently. “Instead of sorting the cups by color, I usually do it by the type of cup. I put glass cups together, plastic cups together, and mugs together. Can you try it that way instead?”
REFLECT
- What were the different characteristics we were using to sort? (Like: object type, size, color, location in kitchen, etc.)
Not Quite Ready
Ask your child to sort a smaller number of items (like forks and spoons) and talk about how they are similar and different.
Ready for More
Ask your child to think of all the different ways they could sort kitchen objects.
As Your Child Masters This Skill
They will be able to be able to sort items based on different attributes, and explain how they created those groups.
Time to Complete
20 minutes
Materials Needed
Kitchen objects that need to be put away