In November, I posted about our Animal Sorting Mats we were using as part of our biome study. They have helped our children learn animal classification and they have enjoyed interacting with them. So I decided to make some new mats to help them learn to organize animals in other ways.
These sorting mats are great multi-sensory tools as they target all three main learning styles. Auditory learners enjoy categorizing and sorting information. The full color photographs engage the visual learners and the hands on movement of pictures to mats will engage the tactile/kinesthetic learners. Additionally, sorting information into categories helps learners learn how to recognize patterns, which allows them to store information in their brain in an organized manner. This will aid them in their retrieval of the information when needed and help them recognize patterns when presented with new information in the future.
The new categories of animal sorting mats include:
Carnivores, Herbivores and Omnivores
Exploring what animals eat is super fun!
Nocturnal and Diurnal Animals
Talking about animals that creep around at night is interesting and many children’s books have been written about the topic!
Migration, Hibernation, and Adaptation
What do animals do when colder weather arrives? What do we do during the winter? These are fun topics to explore with these sorting mats.
Seven Biomes
And of course, since we are using these mats as part of our biome study, sorting the animals by biomes makes perfect sense! This has been a great way to review what we have learned this year about biomes!
Depending on the skill level of the student, you may only want to set out 2-3 mats at a time with the corresponding animals. Written and pictorial clues are printed on each mat to help cue learners. Check Your Work charts are included so that children can be independent with this activity.
Many of the animals are repeated between the different types of sorting mats so that children can start to make connections like ‘bears are a carnivorous mammal who hibernate and live in forests’.
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