Does anyone want to try some sorting with us?  All of these activities use items we can find around the home!

I wanted to dive into the concepts around recycling with my preschooler but first I wanted to make sure he had a good understanding of the different types of materials.

These activities teach the child about the world around them, how the world works and what materials exist in our environment. 

First, we started with natural and man-made materials. 

As we sorted these for the first time, I spoke to my child about what is natural, in our natural environment and what we would find in nature.

After we did this activity a few times I could see that he got it and probably wouldn't reach for this if I left it on his shelf, so I created the slightly more challenging sorting of metal, wood, plastic and glass materials. 

This is an activity many Montessori schools use but it's also super easy to do at home. I made some cards for labels and collected items from around the house that are made of metal, wood, plastic and glass.

Metal - measuring cups, measuring spoons, hair clip/pin, kitchen utensils fork/spoon, pegs, keys, lock, coins, paper clip, bell. 

Wood - wooden spoon, twig/branch, wood ornament, wood bowl, wooden egg, pencil. 

Plastic - Lego/Duplo, peg, plastic toy, kitchen spatula, hair comb. 

Glass - cup, bowl, magnifying glass, snow globe, glass dish, jar.

We can talk about the properties of each material, how each item is made, how they feel and how they sound. Some of the objects are tricky, like the glass jar with a metal lid, or the paper clip which is metal with a plastic coating!

We can also go on a scavenger hunt around the house (or classroom) "Let's look for items that are metal!" and see what the child can find. 

My child loves to explore and play with all of the little objects. 

If you are interested in trying this work but don't have enough objects or don't want to use real glass, there are some printables online including:

• Natural and Man-made Materials Sorting Cards by I Believe in Montessori (at Teachers Pay Teachers). 
• What material is it made of? Sorting Cards by I Believe in Montessori (at Teachers Pay Teachers). 
• What is it made of: materials around us Sorting Activity at Montessori Kiwi.