Shuffle playing cards and let the children sort them out by colours first and then by value.

This works very well when teaching sorting in databases, and also with number work in Maths.

Top Trumps are also a great starting point for database work (see this page for more ideas). Andrew Ross has mentioned some ideas for using Top Trumps in the classroom on his site.

Do you have any other tips for introducing databases to children? Post them in the comments below, or email them to mark@teachingideas.com and I will add them to this page. Thanks!