Pattern making activities allow children to practice and develop the skill of logical thinking at the kindergarten stage. This enables children to organize their thoughts and approach a problem with logic at school and in life. Additionally, these activities are also known to be influential for learning to read as words on paper are patterns made up of letters.
Some examples of patterns could be – Red, Blue, Red Blue, Red Blue… OR Leaf, flower, Leaf, Flower, Leaf, Flower… OR abcabcabcabc….. etc.
Preschoolers should be encouraged to recognize patterns, copy patterns, create their own patterns, extend patterns and find the missing one in a pattern. As a young child yourself you must have engaged in similar activities at kindergarten, didn’t you? These activities are simple to do and do not require much preparation. Let’s see how you can engage your preschooler in simple pattern-making activities at home!
Age Group
Children in the age group of 4 – 5 years
What do you need?
Please note the following are suggestions. You can choose any thing that is easy to find and most importantly, things that the child is familiar with
Option 1: You can go out and collect familiar real objects. For example – 8 similar leaves, 8 similar rocks, 8 small sticks
Option 2 ( for children who recognize different colours): Use different coloured circular cut-outs. The size should not be too small or too big, just enough for the child to grasp comfortably. Example : 8 red coloured circles, 8 green coloured circles and 8 yellow coloured circles
Option 3 (for 4-5 years old who recognize different shapes): Alternatively, instead of 3 different colours, you could choose three different shapes and keep the colour constant. Example : 8 red coloured squares, 8 red coloured circles, 8 red coloured triangles
How to play?
- You can begin with making a simple pattern for the child to see. For example, use only two variables – Leaf Rock Leaf Rock… ( or Red, Green, Red, Green.. or Square,Circle, Square, Circle…)
- Support your child to observe the pattern by saying it out loud as you place the objects/colours/shapes.
- Now encourage the child to copy the pattern that you made. Ask them to make an exactly same pattern just below your pattern.
- Make it fun by introducing another pattern, this time you may use three variables. For example – Leaf Rock Stick Leaf Rock Stick… (or Red Blue Yellow Red Blue Yellow… OR Square Circle Triangle Square Circle Triangle…)
- Again, support the child to recognise the pattern.
- Encourage the child to copy it by making the exact same pattern as yours.
Follow Up
Allow the child to create a pattern that you can copy. Encourage them and support them as it might be difficult the first time.
Try a variation
After the child has played the pattern-making game a number of times, you can encourage them to complete a pattern that you have made.
For example- you make a pattern such as Red, Blue, Green, Red, Blue, …. Encourage the child to complete the pattern (by placing the green colour).
How did you and your family do on this activity? Did your child enjoy it? What did she/he say?
Help us improve and tell us more about kindergarten activities that parents may find helpful. We look forward to your suggestions!
This article is in a series of preschool activities that have been published by Team BestOfSchools for preschool-aged children that parents can easily perform at home.
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