Ibis's Big Tidy-Up
Sorting by two things at once: colour and shape, size and shape
How it plays
Blocks are scattered around: circles, squares, triangles and stars, in orange and blue, big and small. Your child drags each into the box where it belongs, and every box shows a faded block of the kind it wants. First by one thing (all the orange together, then all the circles), then by two at once: orange circles here, blue squares there, big triangles, small circles. A block that goes in the wrong box slides back with a gentle word. Every block says what it is when it's picked up.
What it's for
Sorting by two things at once: colour and shape, size and shape. It adapts as your child plays: after a few rounds that go well it steps up a little, and after a couple of hard ones it quietly steps back. The level number only ever goes up.
There is no score to lose and no way to fail. A wrong move is met with a gentle nudge, and a level ends when it's won.
Away from the screen: The washing basket sort
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Tip out a pile of clean socks (or blocks, or buttons).
- Sort them one way first: all the same colour together.
- Mix them up and sort again, by two things this time: big and striped, small and plain. Where does each one go?
Three questions to ask while they play
- How did you know which box it went in?
- Could it go in two boxes? Why not?
- Can you think of another way to sort them?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- It has to be the right colour and the right shape.
- Which box does this one belong in?
- You thought about two things at once!
Taking turns on one device: One player says what it is ('a big red circle'); the other sorts it. Swap.
Talk-about cards: a question a day for a week, for the car or the dinner table. Print them, or read them from your phone.
If they find it hard
Tidy-up time is sorting time: toys by kind, cutlery by size, washing by colour and owner. Ask "How else could we sort these?" Or try A Shape in its Place first: one shape at a time, before two things at once.
A sheet to print
Print the Ibis's Big Tidy-Up sheet
One A4 page, in black and white or colour.
What it practises
- Sorting by two things. Putting things into groups by what they look like, then by two things at once: orange and round, small and pointy.
AC9MFSP01 (Mathematics, Foundation); AC9MFM01 (Mathematics, Foundation); EYLF 4.2 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0) - Shapes. Naming and sorting circles, squares, triangles and stars.
AC9MFSP01 (Mathematics, Foundation) - Colours. Noticing and matching colours.
EYLF 4.2 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for three- to five-year-olds) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
Ibis's Big Tidy-Up lives in The Bright Spot — shapes, colours and noticing. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.