Teaching Patterns in Kindergarten

teaching pattern

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There are many opportunities for teaching about patterns throughout the day to kindergarten students . Children learn to recognize, create, copy and extend patterns through repeated daily activities.

Integrating five minute patterning activities into your daily schedule is not only fun for the children, but also helps them to be aware of patterns in their daily surroundings.

Any sets of shapes, numbers, letters or objects that are repeated over and over again help teach children about pattern.

Teaching Preschool and Kindergarten Pattern Activities

On this page:

  • Before you teach pattern to kindergarten students
  • Why is teaching about pattern important?
  • Patterning skills

Before teaching pattern to kindergarten students...

It will benefit your students to have plenty of experiences sorting and grouping objects before being introduced to kindergarten patterning activities. If you think your students need more experiences with sorting and grouping read "Kindergarten Sorting Games".

Why teach pattern in kindergarten?

teaching pattern to kindergarten and preschoolAlthough math standards vary throughout the US and Canada, teaching pattern to kindergarten is included in most lists and is often categorized under the heading of "Algebra". Algebra is about seeing relationships and as children recognize and create patterns they begin to see and understand how things work together.

Patterning skills - What do students need to know?

teaching pattern Once again skills lists vary geographically, but generally students will work towards being able to:

  • create their own patterns at various difficulty levels such as:
       red, blue, red, blue...
       red, blue, yellow, repeat...
       red, red, blue, red, red, blue....
       red, blue, yellow, yellow, yellow  
  • copy patterns that others have made
  • extend patterns that others have started
  • tell what is missing if part of a pattern is hidden
  • compare and talk about patterns that arise from their
    daily experiences
  • recognize patterns in the environment - e.g. fence posts: short, tall, short, tall...
  • use patterns to describe the world around them and
    to solve problems
  • identify a pattern

Go to the next page to learn more about the following:

  • Pattern blocks
  • Fun ideas for 5 minute patterning activities
  • Easy math games to develop kindergarten patterning skills
  • More Teacher Tips


All math pages:

Teaching kindergarten & preschool math - how to teach kindergarten and preschool math concepts, sample step-by-step teach measurement, activities and games
Teaching with math manipulatives - how to teach with math manipulatives to help children understand math concepts
Best math manipulatives - choose materials that are useful for more than one math concept, work well for problem solving activities and are tough enough to withstand constant play
Teaching math vocabulary - learn how to teach math vocabulary and specific words as you demonstrate math activities and talk to your students about their math experiences.
Attribute blocks - how to use these math manipulatives for different features: shape, color, size and thickness to help promote logical thinking
Graphing 1 - how to teach graphing to preschool and kindergarten children, includes collecting data and organizing it in a variety of ways
Graphing 2 - more graphing ideas for young children
Measurement - how to find measurement to young children, find opportunities for students to order objects by size, color, shape...
Number Activities - how to provide experiences that build number sense
Number Games - how to improve children's number sense with easy games
Number Skills - what number skills do children need to know?
Pattern 1- how to teach children pattern concepts
Pattern 2 - ideas and games to teach children to recognize, create, copy and extend patterns
Pattern 3 - teach patterning skills to early childhood and preschool students
Sorting and classifying- how to teach children the important skills of sorting, comparing and classifying objects

Math & Literature Connections - how to combine math and literature, learn how to promote math skills as you share good literature
            Ten Apples Up on Top - open-ended math activity with Dr. Suess
            10 Little Rubber Ducks - ideas to promote math with this wonderful Eric Carle story
            1, 2, 3 to the Zoo - another great Eric Carle book, practice counting, making number sets, ordinal numbers and more



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Pages about teaching pattern:
1. Teaching patterns in kindergarten
2. More patterning activities and games
3. Teaching early childhood students about pattern   

attribute blocks Teach logic with attribute blocks