Seed Scoop and Sort

Put four kinds of seed in a tray. Give the child a scoop and three bowls. Say almost nothing.

What happens next is the beginning of classification. Some children sort by size, some by colour, some by whether they like the feel of it, and all three are correct. The sheet asks you to write down which rule the child used, because that is far more interesting than whether they sorted correctly.

We use mung bean, rice, corn and pumpkin seed, which are cheap everywhere in Southeast Asia and none of them are a choking hazard at pumpkin seed size. Smaller seeds need supervision.

The page includes a recording strip for the adult and a picture row for the child. Run it for twenty minutes. Children who have done it three times start inventing their own categories, which is when you know it has worked.