Super Sorting Pie

Super Sorting Pie - Lots of way to play.

Super Sorting Pie is another game that most OTs are probably familiar with. Brightly colored fruit pieces in a pie-shaped bowl with a removable lid, sorting cards and large durable tweezers makes for a game that kids will play without even knowing they are learning. 

The tweezers are big and somewhat stiff and can be hard to squeeze for those with very weak hands, but I use them for most. There is one small indent on one side of the tweezers and two small indents on the other side to direct where the three fingers go. 

The fruit is brightly colored and has more of a rubbery feel. Within each color there are two fruits - yellow is lemons and bananas, red is grapes and apples, purple is plums and grapes, orange is peaches and oranges, green is apples and plantains. There are six identical pieces of each kind of fruit. 

The bowl is hard plastic. The lid sits on top but does not snap on. The divider in the picture above is removable. Take out the divider, place one of the sorting cards in the bottom of the pie plate, put the divider back in, and go to work sorting by color, fruit type, or number of pieces. Here is what is on each card:

Front - Red grapes, banana, green apple, plum, orange
Back - Lemon, orange, red apple, purple grapes, plantain

Front - 5 fruits in black and white: grapes, peach or plum, orange, apple, plantain or banana
Back = 5 sections os color: green, orange, purple, red, yellow

Front - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Back - 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 

If you would like to see a list of games that I have blogged about that include tweezers or tongs, click here.

Try this:

• Turn the lid upside down and use as a bowl to hold the fruit while you are sorting.
• Use the fruit, without the pie plate, and line up a pattern on the table, such as apple, banana, grape, orange.  Ask the individual to make a matching line up. How many lines can they make before they run out of pieces?
• Start with fewer pieces if 60 seems overwhelming for the individual.
• Ask the individual to cup one or both hands and hold them in that position as you drop the fruit pieces one at a time into the palms. Count as you go. How many can they hold? Go again and try for one more.
• Place one piece of fruit at a time in the individual's palm and ask them to push it to the fingertips without dropping to sort into the pie plate.
• Ask the individual to cup one hand and pick the fruit up one at a time and drop into their own palm. How many can they hold? Next reverse hands and repeat. See if they can hold at least one more without dropping.
• Pick up the fruit, one piece at a time, and squirrel it into the palm while putting the game away. How many pieces can they hold before they have to drop them into the box? 
• Start an AB pattern of fruit in a line on the table top and ask the individual to add to it. Then try an ABC or ABB, etc., by fruit or by color.
• Skip the sorting cards. Mix up and place all the fruit in the lid. Ask the individual to find and place pieces into the pie, one at a time sorting by color, fruit type, favorite fruit, shape, etc.
• Make one big fruity pie. Empty the pie crust and then ask the individual to place pieces in as you direct, such as add three yellow pieces and add two apples of different colors, etc. Keep going until all the pieces are in the pie crust.
• Give verbal directions of a sequence of fruit to add to the pie. Ask the individual to remember the sequence and add the fruit.
• Reinforce colors by always naming the color first when talking about each fruit.
• Place the lid upside down on the table and toss the fruit into it one at a time. Or you could use the crust without the divider for that matter.
• Make a line of two or more pieces of fruit. Ask the individual to look at it to remember. Verbally rehearse the pieces in order to aid in memorization. Cover the pieces and ask the individual to build a matching line of pieces. Remove the cover and see if they are correct. If not, can they spot the mistake and correct it? Add more and more to the line as the individual's ability to remember increases. Practice chunking the pieces for memory if the line gets long, like three and three or two and two, etc.
• Have a plate of the real thing nearby. Talk about apples, the different colors and tastes, the seeds, how people eat them, how they grow, etc. Then eat a slice or two (a sweet and a tart). Talk about lemons, their color, sourness, seeds, how they grow, lemonade, etc. Then eat a piece.
• Work on visual discrimination, eye-hand coordination, sorting, coordinated use of both hands, palmar arch development, manual dexterity, tool use, separation of two sides of the hand, finger strength, sequencing, socialization skills, process skills, executive functioning skills, play exploration and participation

In the box: Durable plastic pie plate with removable divider, 60 solid pieces of fruit (10 fruits in 5 different colors), 3 double sided sorting cards, 2 jumbo tweezers, activity guide

If you are interested in purchasing this item or just want more information, click on the image below to go to Amazon.com.