Location: indoor

Materials: just the shoes on your feet

Sorting is an important early math skill, and can easily be turned into a fun and hands-on game.

1. Invite your kids to take off their shoes at circle time and collect one of each child's shoe in the middle.
2. Ask your kids to help you describe the different shoes. You can draw their attention to color, size, material, patterns, laces, etc.
3. Do an example of one way you could sort the shoes while talking through your thinking. For example you could say, "I'm putting all of the sneakers over here and all of the rain boots over here."
4. After explaining how you've sorted them, try something new and see if your kids can guess how you sorted them.
5. Finally, invite your kids to come up with other ideas about how to sort them. What else can you do?