Season Sorting Sensory Tray
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This simple, hands-on Season Sorting Sensory Tray combines sensory play with sorting and categorization, making it an excellent way to introduce children to the four seasons while also building important developmental skills. With just a few seasonal objects and a divided tray, you can set up a fun, engaging activity that encourages learning through play.
Season Sorting Sensory Tray Activity
Supplies:
- A divided tray
- Small objects that represent each season:
- Spring – artificial flowers
- Summer – paper or foam suns
- Fall – leaves, pumpkins, or acorns
- Winter – foam or felt snowflakes
- Labels for each section (Write each season on a piece of paper and then cut it to create a label)
- Fine motor tweezers (optional)
Instructions:
- Place all the seasonal items together in the center of the tray.
- Label each tray section with a season name.
- Invite kids to choose an item, think about which season it belongs to, and place it in the correct section.
- They can sort using their hands or practice fine motor control by using sensory tweezers.
- Continue until all the items are sorted into their matching seasons.
Key Developmental Benefits of this Activity:
These are just a few benefits this activity will have for your children.
- Builds categorization skills by grouping objects by season.
- Strengthens fine motor skills through picking up and placing items (especially with tweezers).
- Encourages seasonal vocabulary development as children name and talk about each item.
- Promotes critical thinking as kids decide where each item belongs.
- Provides a hands-on, sensory learning experience that’s both fun and educational.
Benefits of the Season Sorting Sensory Tray
For Parents at Home
- Provides an easy, low-cost way to keep kids engaged with meaningful play.
- Builds early learning skills like sorting, categorizing, and vocabulary while feeling like a game.
- Encourages conversation about family traditions, holidays, and activities tied to each season.
- Can be adapted for quiet play or as a fun add-on to a seasonal storybook.
For Therapists in the Clinic or Classroom
- Targets fine motor skills and pincer grasp development, especially when tweezers are used.
- Supports sensory processing by engaging touch, sight, and sometimes even sound if you add noisy items.
- Provides an opportunity to address language goals (seasonal vocabulary, sentence building, or answering “wh” questions).
- Offers a flexible activity that can be graded up or down depending on a child’s skill level.
For Educators at School
- Reinforces science and social studies concepts around weather, nature, and seasonal changes.
- Encourages critical thinking as students make decisions about where each object belongs.
- Promotes cooperative learning when children sort together in small groups.
- Easy to incorporate into seasonal or thematic units for hands-on learning centers.
Book Suggestions to Extend this Activity
Here are some books on seasons that you can choose from to read before or after this activity.
- The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons
- Wonderful Seasons by Emily Winfield Martin
- Through The Seasons We Go! by Shahida Suleman
- A Tree for All Seasons by Robin Bernard
- The Squirrels' Busy Year: A First Science Storybook by Martin Jenkins
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Heather Greutman, COTA
Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with experience in school-based OT services for preschool through high school. She uses her background to share child development tips, tools, and strategies for parents, educators, and therapists. She is the author of many ebooks including The Basics of Fine Motor Skills, and Basics of Pre-Writing Skills, and co-author of Sensory Processing Explained: A Handbook for Parents and Educators.