Sorting is an important developmental skill that children use to make sense of their world relating objects to each other based on different attributes helps to develop this skill that will eventually aid in math development as well. This shape sorting tray combines that developmental skill of noticing and sorting by shape with the novelty of sparkly gems. Children love shiny, sparkly, “special” things and using that excitement for a more mundane activity like sorting is a great way to boost interest. I should note that while I designed this try as a shape sorting tray, it could just as easily be used as a color sorting one. If you have a student who chooses to color sort instead of using this as a shape sorting tray, do not intervene. Allow the child to make sense of it themselves.
Gather your materials. You will need a muffin tray ( yay for the dollar store), some gems, a tray, a small container for the gems before sorting, and double stick tape.
Start by sorting the gems yourself and using the double stick tape to tape one gem of each shape to the bottom of the muffin tin. Mine came off with some effort when we were done, but you need pretty strong fingers to do it.
Time to sort!
The simplicity of this activity is wonderful, but it’s also just shiny and sparkly enough to attract students.