Texture Sort
Here's What To Do
Place the clothing and other items in the bag or box.
Tell your child they’ll touch an item in the bag, and describe its texture or how it feels. They can also guess what the item is before pulling it out of the bag.
As they touch the item, encourage your child to describe how it feels by naming the texture using words like “smooth,” and “rough.”
As they take the items out of the bag, ask your child to sort them into different groups based on their texture so that all of the rough items are in one group, and the smooth items are in another.
Put PEER Into Action
Pause:
- Warm up by taking a few deep breaths together and going on a short texture walk. Touch a few items around you and describe how they feel.
Engage:
- “Let’s play a mystery bag game! You’ll touch one thing in the bag and describe its texture or how it feels. You can even guess what you think it is!”
- “Then, sort them so that all the things that feel the same go together. All the rough things will go in one group, and all the smooth things will go in another group.”
Encourage:
- Give your child two choices they can select from as they describe the texture. “Does it feel soft like the teddy bear, or rough like the sponge?”
- Your child can touch the items in each group again to see which group they should place their new object.
Reflect:
- “What other textures should we include next time?” (provide options like “bumpy” or “silky” if needed)
Not quite ready?
Do the activity together. You can describe the texture and your child can repeat the word. Help them to group items with the same texture together.
Ready for more?
Include more than two types of textures so your child can create more groups.
As your child masters this skill...
They will create groups based on texture.