Looking for a fun learning center that will help your students think about community workers? Try these free sorting mats!
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Recently I released a community helpers theme pack. Included in that pack is a giant set of community helper sorting mats. Today I’m sharing a free sample!
Your download comes with four sorting mats and six pictures for each mat.
How to assemble
1. Print the mats and cards.
2. Laminate. (This is our favorite home laminator!)
3. Cut apart the cards.
4. If desired, attach clear Velcro dots to the mats and cards. Attach the cards to each mat for storage.
5. To play, take out two or more mats. Remove the cards and mix them up. Have your child name the pictures and determine where the pictures belong.
My Three has learned a lot about community helpers in the last month, as we’ve spent many hours reading over a hundred books about community helpers! All that reading has really helped him expand his vocabulary.
These mats provided an opportunity to use that knowledge.
He could identify most, but not all, of the pictures by himself.
Doing these sorting mats together is such a great activity for him! He has to identify the pictures, think about how the objects are used, and determine which community helpers would use them.
There was lots of critical thinking going on!
Your download comes with four mats: firefighter, police officer, baker, and mail carrier. My Community Helpers theme pack comes with a total of 24 mats and card sets! I pulled out some from the theme pack, as he kept requesting more of them.
I chose mats that were easy to contrast: farmer and nurse, for example.
Hairdresser and grocer was another easy contrast.
We finished with artist and garbage collector.
These sorting mats are wonderful for at-home learning or for a center activity in a preschool classroom. Download the sample set below. If you’re doing a full community helpers theme, I recommend buying the full pack! These sorting mats are just one piece of a GIANT set of resources for preschool and kindergarten. You can learn more about the pack here.
Get your free community helpers sorting mats!
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Rebecca Smith
These are so cool! Thanks for sharing.
Anna Geiger
You’re welcome, Rebecca!
Christine jeong
These are so wonderful !!!
Thank you for sharing !!!!
Carla Martins
Thank you for this great activity.
Anna Geiger
You’re very welcome, Carla!
jane
Thanks for sharing
really helpful
Anna Geiger
I hope you get a chance to use them, Jane!
Amber
I love everything you create!
Anna Geiger
Thank you so much, Amber!
Erlyne
Love these mats!!! So great for vocabulary development. :o)
Anna Geiger
Thank you, Erlyne!
Cindi
This was perfect! Thank you so much!!
Anna Geiger
You’re very welcome, Cindi!
Doreen
Wow! What a great activity Thank you
Anna Geiger
You’re welcome, Doreen! My son really loves these. They’re such a great vocabulary builder!
Maricor
Thank you so much.
Anna Geiger
You’re very welcome, Maricor!
Darlene Neely
Thank you so much for sharing. These are perfect!
Anna Geiger
You’re very welcome, Darlene!
erin
Hello,
These mats look wonderful. Do you sell the mats separate from the whole bundle? I’m on a tight budget. Thanks.
Anna Geiger
No – just part of the set.
Darla Minor
So are the mats free I don’t see a link for them
Anna G
Yes – click on the green box that says “to get your free printable click here.”
Lauren
The link is no longer working. I’m finding many of your links aren’t working right now, about 1/4 of the ones I’ve clicked have worked.
Anna G
I just checked it and it worked perfectly. Please disable your ad blocker if the green box isn’t clickable. If the delivery email doesn’t work, please reply to it, and my assistant will check. Thanks!
Pepper
Thank you so much for sharing, these are great!
Anna G
You’re welcome!
elaine
Thank you so much, my kindergarten class, truly enjoyed the activity.