I am a blog ambassador for Lakeshore and am compensated for my work. I received product free of charge, but all thoughts and opinions are 100% mine.
Have some sorting fun with young toddlers.
One of my favorite parts of parenthood and toddler life is learning through play together. The latest learning through play adventure at my house has been introducing sorting to my 18 month old.
Sorting is an incredible concept for kids to learn. When a child is sorting, they are analyzing a set of data, making critical thinking decisions, and problem solving – there is so much more to sorting than just grouping like objects.
Learning through play with sorting fun.
With all children, learning through play is the goal but none more than toddlers and preschoolers. They develop and learn best by playing so working on sorting in a play setting is ideal.
For our sorting fun, I used toys from Lakeshore.
Lakeshore graciously sent me three fabulous toys to help my 18 month old with her sorting fun. We love these well made, teacher designed toys, and I know we will be using them in countless activities and for years to come.
Sorting fun with My First Sorting Bears
We are officially addicted to these little bears. They come in four colors but I only used two for this simple sorting activity. Starting sorting with two colors seemed best for my daughter.
Using the included activity cards, I had my daughter sort red bears and blue bears. She loves anything that involves these little bears! I talked as we sorted, “Where do the blue bears go?” to make sure she was connecting the color name to each bear.
In the future, I can’t wait to sort with all four colors and by the two different sizes these bears come in.
Sorting fun with the Colorpillar Mat
With the Colorpillar Sorting Mat, my daughter and I worked on trying to match each object/toy to the corresponding color on the mat. At 18 months old, it is a big challenge to sort all the objects that come with this mat, which is great. This toy has so much learning life in it!
We worked on this activity together, sorting the toys onto their matching color square. She loves trying to find the right color for each toy.
Sorting fun with Color Discovery Boxes
This toy from Lakeshore (Color Discovery Boxes) has been a huge hit for my daughter and an awesome sorting resource. There are four color boxes, but we are working on sorting just two colors at a time.
She loves adding more yellow items to her yellow box and blue items to the blue box. And testing everything before it gets sorted.
I love the age range on this toy. Not only are there four colors to sort, but each box of a toy crayon, toy food, ball, and plastic animal. So while my daughter is learning to sort by color, my three year old can practice sorting objects.
Having the right toys for sorting fun is crucial.
Owning some key toys definitely makes learning activities a snap to set up. That’s why I love Lakeshore so much. Their toys are well made, thoroughly tested, and teacher created so I know I’m getting a great blend of play and learning in each toy. These toys are not one-hit-wonders and will be with us for a long time.
To learn more about Lakeshore, find them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.
What’s your favorite sorting activity?
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Ralimon says
My guy loves the boxes at the local library.
Nicole Floyd says
My daughter loves sorting Pom poms by color into muffin tins. These boxes look like so much fun!
Jenna says
My toddler loves sorting but we’re still working on colors!
Jessica Rhyan says
I love all of these! My 2.5 year old LOVES puzzles and sorting pom poms.
Emily Savery says
We love coloured baths in our house. We got that idea from you Susie! When I tell the kids it’s bath time they are so excited and ask me if they can have a “blue” , “green” , “red” etc. bath and then we run around trying to find things (suitable for the bath?) that are that Colour. They just love it!!
Lauren B says
The sorting boxes are very cute, and I’m sure toddlers love putting items in the box and then taking them back out again.
Geraldine McIntosh says
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been searching for fun activities to keep my 17 month old busy! So far our favorite sorting activity is sorting Meg bloks by color, but these sorting toys look so fun! I’m excited to check them out.
Katie J says
My favorite learning activity for my toddler is doing puzzles!
Megan Jurich says
Caterpillar color mat
Brittany Y says
We love the sorting bears!!! Lately my toddler has really been into giant Pom poms and bowls. We’ve done red, blue and yellow sorting so far 🙂
Sarah Adams says
I love these great math activity ideas! My son Max is almost 18 months old, too. I love to see the sense of accomplishment he gets from our Montessori-inspired toys and activities! I especially love the caterpillar sorting mat; I can foresee using that for many different activities for years to come! Thanks for the chance at this great giveaway! 🙂
Ashley Baker says
These are great activities!
Jennifer Luck says
The caterpillar sorting mat is very cute and a great way to teach sorting. Thanks for the idea BusyToddler and Lakeshore.
Sabrina says
I love this idea. My son would love the boxes!
Natalie says
I’m a first time mom and love using all of your games for my 16 month old. Thank you for sharing!
Brittany Allred says
The caterpillar mat is adorable!
Katey says
My toddler loves fine motor. Dropping craft sticks or pom poms into a bottle or other small container!
Jodie Rodriguez says
We love Lakeshore products. In fact, on a trip to Chicago we stopped at the Lakeshore store.
Menucha says
My toddler loves anything with ABC’s. His favorite is to point out the letters on my keyboard while I’m trying to work 😉 haha!
Georgina says
That caterpillar mat is adorable!!!