Red and Green Sort

What you need

• a few red things and a few green things, like socks, cups, blocks or soft toys
• two baskets or boxes

How to do it

1. Tip the red and green things into a pile on the floor.
2. Put a red sock in one basket and a green one in the other, saying "red" and "green".
3. Hand your toddler one thing at a time and ask "red or green?", then help them drop it in the matching basket.
4. When the pile is gone, tip the baskets out, mix it all up and sort again.

Why it matters

Sorting two colours is an early way of noticing that things can be the same or different.

What they're learning

Same and different

Putting a red sock with the red things starts them noticing what goes together.

Colour words

Hearing "red" and "green" again and again, on real things, links the word to the colour.

Hand to basket

Dropping each thing in the right basket takes a little aim.

What to look for

Notice them looking at the baskets before they drop something in.

A tip

Mistakes are fine at this age: say the colour as it goes in and let it be.

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