Magnetic letter sorting is an easy, hands-on way to teach the alphabet in preschool and kindergarten. Use the free printable letter mats for this early literacy activity (grab your copy at the end of this post).
One of my go-to early literacy supplies is a good set of magnetic letters.
Full disclosure – it’s actually multiple sets of magnetic letters.
There’s a never-ending list of magnetic letter activities to teach the alphabet, words, names, and so forth.
Today I want to talk about just one simple method – sorting magnetic letters.
Related: How to Teach the Alphabet
Table of Contents
What’s So Great About Magnetic Letters?
Even before the children start letter sorting, magnetic letters are teaching.
Kids Use their Senses
To begin with, just the act of playing with and holding the magnetic letters helps teach a child. The letters will look different, whether by size, shape, color, or another defining characteristic.
On top of that, the letters will feel different in her hands. The letter ‘x’ isn’t going to feel exactly the same as the letter ‘a’.
While she may not start out knowing what the letters are, her senses will be cataloging what she sees and feels.
A Child’s Natural Curiosity
Plus, the child’s innate sense of curiosity will eventually come into play. He’ll want to know what these things are that he’s playing with, so he’ll ask questions.
He will make connections, sometimes with an adult’s help of course. For example, he might point out that one of the magnetic letters looks like a letter he’s seen in his name. He might notice that one of the letters is on the stop sign he sees in his neighborhood every day.
How Magnetic Letter Sorting Helps Teach the Alphabet
Sorting magnetic letters might seem like just a math activity, but it’s so much more than that!
In actuality, it’s an amazing, hands-on way to teach children about letters.
Children Compare and Contrast Letters
When a child is asked to sort magnetic letters, it forces her to attend to the similarities and differences within the letters.
This will make her take note that the letters are not all the same. Even if she’s just focusing on the color of the letter, she will quickly learn that there are certain differences to be found.
Related: Word-Making Earth Day Sensory Bin
When looking at letters she’s grouped together in the same category, the child is likely to notice how the letters are the same color but different shapes.
Her mind becomes used to assessing and comparing what the magnetic letters look like. This is a precursor for learning the individual letters and their distinct characteristics.
New Language is Learned During Letter Sorting
When a child sorts magnetic letters, his descriptive language improves. His teacher (or parent) is giving him the language with which to describe letters.
Having the language to express the ways the letters are similar brings a new perspective to the process. It allows him a way to verbalize the observations he’s making while sorting.
Keep in mind that letter sorting can be done individually, in small groups, and as an entire class.
Children can sort on their own or with an adult there to help. Asking questions and making comments as the children complete this task helps provide them with language.
It also helps draw their attention to the individual letters. For example, you might make simple comments like, “I notice that the uppercase ‘E’ doesn’t have any holes, but the lowercase ‘e’ does.”
Letter Sorting Possibilities
Below is a list of some ideas regarding how children can sort magnetic letters. Please keep in mind that there are different levels of skill involved in the letter sorts.
Related: ABC Learning with Icy Fizzy Letters
Choose ways of sorting that best meet the needs of the children you are working with.
- Color
- Letter
- Uppercase versus lowercase
- In my name
- In my friend’s name
- Have holes
- Have curves
- Straight lines
- Vertical lines
- Tails
- Tall versus short
- Sounds
Those are just some ways of sorting magnetic letters. What are some other ways you sort them with your children?
Letter Sorting Doesn’t Need to Be Complicated
As you can see from some of my older photos, you don’t need anything special to sort the letters.
I’ve often used construction paper that I’ve handwritten graphs on, and the children seriously don’t mind. Sometimes it was a quick graph I made on the whiteboard easel before circle time or center time.
Related: Fun Alphabet Songs for Preschool and Kindergarten
Of course, having a set of already-made magnetic letter sorting mats is just handy. It means they’re ready to be pulled out as needed, or you can store them in the literacy center so the kids can use them during independent time. For these, you can just laminate hand-drawn sorting mats or you can use printable sorting mats.
I’ve put together 5 free printable sorting mats you can grab at the end of this post. Print the sorting mats, laminate them, and use them with the kids tomorrow.
Be sure to check out the giant pack of sorting mats I share at the bottom of the post.
Related: Preschool Alphabet Activities Using Gold Coins
How to Store Magnetic Letters
I’ve been asked many times which magnetic letters I use and how I store them. There are so many choices out there, so go with what works best for you!
Over the years, I’ve kept a few sets of Lakeshore’s uppercase and lowercase magnetic letters in my stash. Learning Resource’s magnetic letters are also great if you’re leading a whole group lesson on a teacher easel.
In terms of storing the letters, I love using a 24-drawer hardware storage bin. It’s been with me through multiple moves (one of which was cross-country) and many students.
I also have something like using a hardware organizer “briefcase” for when I’m traveling from room to room with the letters. This is also handy to keep things organized in a mobile literacy center.
Huge Magnetic Letter Sorting Pack
We now have a HUGE (seriously, it’s over 300 pages) pack devoted to magnetic letter sorting. There are a variety of prompts in the form of full-page and half-page sorting mats, as well as printable prompts you can attach to your magnetic teacher easel during whole group learning.
Grab the magnetic letter sorting pack from Preschool Teacher 101
See the letter sorting mats in action here:
Save time planning for preschool with Preschool Teacher 101. You’ll find done-for-you lesson plans, math and STEM activities, and literacy ideas. Be sure to check out the membership options for even more savings.
Even More Ideas for Learning with Magnetic Letters
Magnetic Letter Name Sensory Bin from Powerful Mothering
Elkonin Sound Boxes from Playdough to Plato
Self-correcting Magnetic Word Work from Differentiated Kindergarten
Alphabet Magnet Beginning Sounds Center from The Kindergarten Connection
Pull and Trace Alphabet Magnets from The Kindergarten Connection
Magnetic Letters Sequencing Cards from Sara J Creations
Secret Code Seasonal Words from Fun Learning for Kids
Editable Sight Word Mats from Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station
Letter Identification Alphabet Train from Stay at Home Educator
Beginning Sounds with Magnetic Letters from Pages of Grace
Number Word Mats from Fairy Poppins
Magnetic Letter Sorting from Fun-A-Day
From Beginning Sounds to CVC Words from Liz’s Early Learning Spot
Magnetic Letters Nouns Game from Teach Me Mommy
CVC Word Spinners from Sweet Sounds of Kindergarten
Magnetic Letters Center for All Year from The Simplified Classroom
(Not Shown) Seek and Find Magnetic Letter Matching Game from STEAMsational
Get Your Free Printable
The free printable sorting mats are available to members of Fun-A-Day’s free email community. If you’re already a member, click on the button below and enter your information to get the printable sent to your email inbox.
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This post was originally published April 4, 2013. It’s been updated with a few new photos, more information, and printable sorting mats (as requested by some awesome readers).
Hi Melanie! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Oh, this is so clever! Definitely going to try this with baby girl in about a year or so.
Thanks, Carrie! It’s amazing how such simple activities teach children so much.
Thank you for this post. It would never have occured to me to do something as simple as get my son to sort the letters by colour. But you are so right that just holding the letters will help him get used to them. I’m going to try this.
Thanks so much for visiting!! 🙂 I love how simple ideas can help children learn. Over the course of my teaching years, I have seen magnetic letter activities allow kiddos to explore so many important concepts.
What a neat idea! We do the sorting of the magnet letters and numbers but in a different manner. Should try your way!
Thank you Varya! Sorting in all sorts of way is meaningful for kiddos. 🙂
This is a really cool activity! I’ve never thought about doing this and will have to try it out with my boys!
Angela, thanks so much for stopping by with the kind words. 🙂 Let me know how it goes with your boys.
I teach 20 4PK kids. How many letter sets would you purchase, or is there a place I can buy bulk letter/numbers to use for small groups as well as name kits.
Hi Angie! Thanks for stopping by. I was just looking up to see if there are any good places to buy the letters in bulk. They’re sold in larger amounts on Amazon and the like, but the price is more or the quality is poor. {Anyone else reading this — have you happened upon a good resource for bulk letters?} The letters I always come back to are those from Lakeshore. They come in uppercase, lowercase, and they also have jumbo versions (which are great for sorting and for using on the teacher magnetic white board). I’ve had many of my letters for over 10 years, and they’re still going strong!
In terms of how many — that’ll vary depending on the names in your class, of course. I’d start with 2 uppercase and 2 lowercase sets to begin with. If you have more in the budget, though, aim for more. There are always so many things to do with magnetic letters! The bin of letter tiles are also great (but they’re all one shape – square – and they’re not magnetic).
Let me know how it goes, Angie! 🙂
I am madly in love with this! Such a great activity for home or in the classroom. I think I’m going to start doing this with Lucy and then save it for when I’m back in the classroom. Win-win! 😉
Oh, I’m so glad, Chelsey! It’s always so interesting to me how “little things” (like sorting) can engage children’s minds in such big ways!! Let me know how it goes with your little gal!
What a great list of ideas for sorting magnetic letters! Thanks for sharing at Discover & Explore—our readers always LOVE your ideas, and so do I!
I’ve been looking for fun ways to help my two-year-old learn his letters. This is fantastic! Thanks!
Thanks so much, Amy! The kiddos really do get a kick out of using the magnetic letters, and so much learning can take place with them. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your ideas! LOVE them.
So happy to hear that, Leigh!!! 🙂
cant wait to use this freebie! thank you
Happy to help, Kim! Let me know how it goes.
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