Sorting Game

Sorting Game is a quick, friendly way to practice putting things into groups. Pictures ride along a conveyor belt, and you drag or tap each one into the bin where it belongs. There are 13 sorting rules with three levels each, from colors and shapes to legs, fruit and dinosaurs. It’s one of those sorting games for kids that works just as well on a classroom whiteboard as on a phone, and it’s free in your browser with no download or sign-up.

How to play

Choose a sorting rule, then a level. Items slide in from the left. Drag an item into the bin it belongs in, or tap the item and then tap the bin. Every bin has a label, such as Red, 6 legs or Vegetable, so you always know what goes where.

• Right bin: the item hops into the bin and a short line says why, for example “Spiders have 8 legs. They are not insects.”
• Wrong bin: the item slides back onto the belt with a kind hint, and you try again. Nothing is lost except a star.
• Stars: finish a level with no mistakes for 3 stars, with 1 or 2 mistakes for 2 stars, or with more for 1 star. Level 1 of every rule is open from the start, and finishing a level unlocks the next one.

Correct sorts in a row build a streak for more points. Levels 2 and 3 bring more items, more bins and a faster belt.

The 13 sorting rules

• Colors: red and blue, then yellow, then green.
• Shapes: circles and squares, then triangles and stars.
• Big & Small: sort the same toys by how big they look on the belt.
• Count the Legs: 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8 legs. Snakes and fish have none, birds have two, dogs have four, insects have six and spiders have eight.
• Living or Not: trees, mushrooms and animals are alive. Rocks, chairs and even robots are not.
• Land, Water, Air: lions and cows on land, whales and octopuses in the water, and eagles, bats and bees in the air.
• Fruit or Veggie: apples, grapes and watermelon are fruits; carrots, potatoes, lettuce and onions are vegetables.
• Odd & Even: 1 to 10, then to 20, then two-digit numbers.
• Letters & Numbers: capital letters, lowercase letters and numbers.
• Hot & Cold: the sun, campfires and soup against ice cubes, snowmen and ice pops.
• Day & Night Animals: chickens, eagles and butterflies by day; owls, bats and raccoons at night.
• Dino Diets: plant-eaters like Triceratops and Stegosaurus, and meat-eaters like T. rex and Velociraptor.
• Find the Rule: the bins only show a question mark. Sort the shapes, watch which bin takes each one, then pick the secret rule: color, shape, size or number of dots.

Relaxed or timed

The belt is Relaxed by default. Items line up at the end and wait for you, so younger players can take their time. On Timed, items that reach the end drop off and come around again, a clock runs, and your best time is saved. Missed items break your streak but never cost stars.

Tips

• Count, don’t guess. In Count the Legs, count the legs you can see. Claws and wings are not legs.
• For Find the Rule, test one idea at a time. If two red shapes land in the same bin, try a blue one. If it goes in a different bin, the rule might be color.
• On a keyboard, number keys 1 to 5 sort the front item into that bin, and the arrow keys pick a different item.

FAQ

What age is this sorting game for?

Colors, shapes and big and small suit preschoolers. Legs, living things, odd and even and Find the Rule suit early elementary kids, and the timed belt is a speed test for anyone.

Can I use it in a classroom?

Yes. It runs in any modern browser, on a Chromebook or an interactive whiteboard too. Each rule is a short lesson in how to classify things into groups.

Why aren’t tomatoes in the fruit and vegetable rule?

Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are fruits to a botanist but vegetables in the kitchen, so the game leaves them out and uses only clear-cut examples. A fruit grows from a flower and holds seeds, while carrots are roots, lettuce is leaves and potatoes are underground stems.

Does it save my progress?

Yes. Stars, unlocked levels, best times and the belt setting are saved in your browser on this device.

Like sorting? Try Color Sort, where you pour colored water between tubes, or sort trash into the right bins in our Recycling Game.