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‘PATTERN’ RESOURCES…

SECTIONS:

• Free sample resources

• Key ‘Pattern’ resources

• Pattern and ‘Development Matters’

• Relevant pages you may be interested in - Shapes - Symmetry - Using Shapes for Tasks - STEM - Mathematics - Construction

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FREE SAMPLE RESOURCES!

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Birth to 3

• Notice patterns and arrange things in patterns.

Birth to 3 - Examples to support learning

• Provide patterned material – gingham, polka dots, stripes etc. – and small objects to arrange in patterns. Use words like ‘repeated’ and ‘the same’ over and over.

• Encourage babies and young toddlers to play freely with a wide range of objects - toddlers engage spontaneously in mathematics during nearly half of every minute of free play. Suggestions: when appropriate, sensitively join in and comment on:

• interestingly shaped objects like vegetables, wooden pegs, spoons, pans, corks, cones, balls

• pots and pans, boxes and objects to put in them, shape sorters

• stacking cups: hiding one, building them into a tower, nesting them and lining them up

3 & 4 Year Olds

• Talk about and identify the patterns around them. For example: stripes on clothes, designs on rugs and wallpaper. Use informal language like ‘pointy’, ‘spotty’, ‘blobs’ etc.

• Extend and create ABAB patterns – stick, leaf, stick, leaf.

• Notice and correct an error in a repeating pattern.

3 & 4 Year Olds - Examples to support learning

• Provide shapes that combine to make other shapes, such as pattern blocks and interlocking shapes, for children to play freely with. When appropriate, discuss the different designs that children make.

• Provide patterns from different cultures, such as fabrics.

• Provide a range of natural and everyday objects and materials, as well as blocks and shapes, for children to play with freely and to make patterns with. When appropriate, encourage children to continue patterns and spot mistakes.

Reception

• Continue, copy and create repeating patterns.

Reception - Examples to support learning

• Provide high quality pattern and building sets, including pattern blocks, tangrams, building blocks and magnetic construction tiles, as well as found materials.

• Challenge children to copy increasingly complex 2D pictures and patterns with these 3D resources, guided by knowledge of learning trajectories: “I bet you can’t add an arch to that,” or “Maybe tomorrow someone will build a staircase.”

• Make patterns with varying rules (including AB, ABB and ABBC) and objects and invite children to continue the pattern. Make a deliberate mistake and discuss how to fix it.