Publix

‹ Back to Tiny Town Central

Sorting & Organizing at Publix

Notice

Is your toddler stacking, grouping, or organizing items from the Tiny Town Publix? Noticing details and sorting into groups by similarities or differences, like with like, is a very important cognitive task. Actively moving items around is part of thinking things through at this age – watch and you may be able to figure out what they are thinking.

Engage

Ask your child to describe what is alike in each of the groups – you might be surprised by the details they notice! Ask – “I like the way you grouped by XXX. Are there other ways that you could sort using a different characteristic that they share?”

Explore at Home

Provide a pile of miscellaneous items or stickers – or let them sort your pots, pans, or plastic containers. Ask your child to sort them into piles of things that are like one another. Once sorted, have s/he explain their groupings. There are always many options. Challenge her/him to do it another way. Make a game of it – you each sort a pile and see if the other can guess what you were thinking.

Book Connection

Check out Sort It Out by Barbara Mariconda on the Discovery Center bookshelf.