While sorting socks does not typically make many adults’ Top 10 Activities for Fun lists – boy is it a fun activity to do with children! This activity is appropriate for young children who are learning to match identical colors and who are building their fine motor skills.
In a low basket with handles, I put a pile of five pairs of brightly-colored child-sized socks on the left side. The child then picks up a sock and finds its color-matched partner. After carefully aligning the socks, the child then removes a clothespin from the bowl and uses it to attach the socks. Finally, the child moves the matched sock pair to the right side and starts the process again.
Too difficult? If your child is not yet able to squeeze a clothespin, you may want to consider developing his or her fine motor strength with other activities such as games using tweezers. More activities like these to come!
Too easy? If your child has squeezing clothespins and simple color matching down pat, you may want to use socks that have only subtle differences. This will train attention to detail.
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Love it. I should try this w/ A. Wish I lived in your neck of the woods (except at wintertime!) so my kids could partake in your amazing-ness. xo
you will have to let me know what A thinks! i wish you lived in our neck of the woods too. there are very few problems that a warm coat can’t solve 🙂
I very clearly remember this being my job when I was small – when Mom did the laundry it was my job to find and match Dad’s black work socks. When they are all black, finding the exact stitching or logo does turn into quite the task for a young child! I really like your added component of using the clothespins. I always love to read The MItten with my group of 3/4 yr olds, and I will definitely incorporate the clothespin with the mitten sorting/matching this year. Thanks!
i love your idea of sorting mittens after reading Jan Brett’s The Mitten especially because that is one of my favorite books! thanks for sharing!!