The top of the sheet holds six labelled boxes, each one empty and headed with a name such as Penguin, Candle, Bauble, Tree, Elf or Sleigh. The bottom holds the six matching drawings inside dashed cutting squares. Cut them out, work out which box each belongs in, glue it down.
Two skills on one sheet
Cutting along a straight dashed line is a job in itself for a four or five year old, and the squares are sized so a pair of child scissors can get round them without the piece folding. The dashed line is set in from the drawing, so a wobbly cut still leaves the picture intact.
The sorting half is reading. The boxes are headed with words, not pictures, so a child has to read Candle and match it to a drawing of one. For a child not yet reading, an adult reading the headings out turns the same sheet into a listening task.
Sort by name or by number
The Sort by control switches the headings from names to counts. With How many selected, each box is headed with a number and each piece carries a group of pictures to count, so the task becomes counting and matching rather than reading and matching.
Pieces sets six or eight. Six leaves the boxes large and is the right size for a first attempt. Eight is a longer job and uses the sheet more fully, which matters when a class is working at different speeds.
Paper and glue
Print on 120gsm rather than ordinary copier paper. Thin paper buckles under a glue stick and tears at the corner of a cut square, and a piece that tears halfway through is the point where a young child gives up on the sheet.
The answer sheet on the second page shows each drawing already in its correct box, which is useful for an adult checking a table of sheets quickly, and for a child who wants to check their own.
Questions
- How many pieces are there to cut out?
- Six by default, each inside its own dashed square at the foot of the sheet, with six matching boxes above. The Pieces control above the paper changes it to eight for a longer activity.
- Do the boxes show pictures or words?
- Words. Each box is headed with the name of the thing that belongs in it, so the sheet is a reading task as well as a cutting one. The Sort by control switches the headings to numbers instead.
- What paper should I use for cut and paste?
- Around 120gsm. Ordinary 80gsm copier paper tears at the corners while a young child is cutting and wrinkles badly under a glue stick, which makes the finished sheet look worse than the work that went into it.
- Is there an answer sheet?
- Yes. The second page shows every picture already sitting in its correct box, so a finished sheet can be checked against it without reading each label again.