Organize your playroom or classroom with several bins for easy cleanup. Label each bin with words and pictures of a particular toy. For example, label a bin "Legos" and either draw a picture of Legos or tape a photo to the bin. When cleaning up after playing, encourage your children to place all the bins on the floor and classify the toys into the correct bins. Not only will this help children practice classification skills, but will also make cleanup time a breeze. Create some friendly competition by pitting the boys against the girls in a cleanup race.
Show children two similar objects, such as two buttons that are a different size and color. Ask them to use as many words as they can to describe one object at a time. Many of the words they use to describe the object may be the same. Compare the word lists side by side, being sure to point out how many things the buttons have in common and how many things are different about the buttons. To further explain this concept, show the children another button that matches one of the others in either size or color. Make another word list and compare it to the other two. There will be words that match in all three lists, and words that only match one other button in the group. To make a game from this activity, see how many similarities children can find in two buttons in one minute. Or, split the class into two teams and see which team can come up with the most differences between the buttons in a specific amount of time, such as thirty seconds.
In this game, children will classify themselves. Use masking tape to create two long lines through your classroom. This will become your "pond." Have all of the children line up along one shore of the pond. Give children a way to classify themselves and have them "cross the pond" if they possess the trait. For example, say "Cross the pond if you are wearing red shoes." Have children classify themselves in several different ways such as by clothing, by the number of people in their families, by birthday month or hair color. After each classification, gather all of the children on the same side of the pond and start over. Enlist the help of another adult to keep track of how many children cross the pond for each classification. Chart the results and review them with the class later.
Create pattern puzzles for children to finish using familiar objects. Draw a few patterns on a piece of paper such as: paper clip, crayon, paper clip, crayon, etc. Provide children with a bucket of familiar objects and encourage them to place the next object in the pattern on the mat. Increase the difficulty of the patterning puzzles by asking children to pattern or classify by object and color. For example, a more difficult patterning puzzle would show: red crayon, red crayon, blue crayon, red crayon, red crayon, and then show three blank spaces for children to finish the pattern.