Patterns can be made of colors, shapes, sounds, movements, all sorts of things! In this activity, Knox creates a pattern using stickers on a snake made from a paper plate. His creativity shines through in his ABC pattern.
How to do it: Cut a coiled snake shape from a cheap paper plate. Children can use stickers, colored paper, or drawing to create a pattern. Before we did this together, I showed my son Knox pictures of several real snakes with patterns on their scales. He used this information as inspiration for his own design. Of course, we only had birthday-themed stickers but whatever! Haha.
Where's the math? Algebraic reasoning is all about identifying patterns and relationships and generalizing them to new situations and objects. Patterns can have a core that repeats like the one Knox made in this video (e.g. hat, present, balloon). Or they can grow. A, AB, ABC, ABCD ... is an example of a growing pattern.
The rockstar pattern for little kids is the AB pattern, but as soon as your kids are comfortable with the AB pattern, help them move on to ABC, AABB, AAB, and other repeating patterns. (I once got into a knock-down fight with my 3 yo because he refused to believe anything other than an AB pattern was legit.) Talking about patterns around the home helps. For example, when setting the table for dinner we create a pattern: fork, plate, knife, spoon. Patterns can also be made of movements or sounds. Clap, snap, snap. Clap, snap, snap.
There are lots of ways to make pattern noticing, creating, and completing part of your math-positive home! For more fun math ideas you can do to build math-positive mindsets alongside your kids, check out my website
www.carriecutler.com or my book Math-Positive Mindsets: Growing a Child's Mind without Losing Yours (available on Amazon).
