More pattern making

Today we are going to continue looking at the important areas of:

Pattern making Language to describe what a pattern looks like Language to explain how to continue a pattern Making similar patterns but with different objects

You will need

10-20 of any small objects your child likes to play with:

Building bricks, dinosaurs, trucks, reading books, dolls, beads, buttons, cutlery

Key vocabulary

Pattern, next, before

In a previous session, we have introduced the different ways we can describe patterns. This can be achieved in 3 different levels of sophistication and you can support your child’s development of language by modelling the three as you create your own patterns.

saying the name of the objects in order – eg knife, spoon, knife, spoon etc. more abstract way of talking about them eg 1, 2, 1, 2 even more abstract a, b, a, b which would also be written as abab.

Useful Questions and sentence stems

Which one comes next?

Can you explain why you choose that object as the next piece of your pattern?

Can you choose the next pattern?

Can your pattern include 3 different objects next time?

Can you make an aabb pattern?

I think I’ve made an abc pattern, do you agree with me?

Think of a pattern you don’t think I will be able to copy!

I’m going to use cutlery, could you make the same pattern using beads?

How to play the game:

First make a short sequence of your pattern and then stop and ask you child which should come next - is it the knife or the spoon? This is the easiest pattern style – just two objects that repeat. Ask your child to make a pattern and this time you will copy them.

Same pattern, Different Objects

To extend your child’s learning you can ask them to create a matching pattern but with different resources. Here one player is using knives and forks while the other is using red and white beads. The image looks very different – but the pattern is the same!

Ways to extend this activity

patterns do not even need to be in a straight line – circles, triangles etc are all great ways to present a pattern.

Try an aab pattern

Use more than 2 types of objects in your pattern (to create e.g. abc pattern) Ask your child to teach this game to another child in your social bubble