Teaching Pattern, It’s More Than Just Alternating Colors

What is pattern? And why is it important that children explore patterns at an early age? And just as important, is pattern more than just colors and AB repeating patterns? Yes, it is.

Pattern means that there is a relationship with some sort of regularity between the elements. These could be objects that have a pattern, but they also could be numerals, sounds in a song, or even concepts or ideas. Even “If, then” statements are a type of pattern. Pattern awareness is considered early algebraic thinking as well as an important stepping stone to logic and logical thinking. Which makes it very important for early learning.

It is essential that children explore pattern beyond just the one or two attributes that are often used, i.e. color. It’s more than just alternating colors! Just like we want to promote seeing numbers in different ways, it is helpful for children to see that patterns arise using different attributes. The example we give in our Big Ideas in Early Mathematics is one of song. A teacher claps her hands and taps her feet to a song in a basic AB repeating pattern. Then a child connects that pattern to a colored block train that she made recently, also in an AB pattern. Between the sound and movement and the colored objects, the child finds an equivalency of a pattern. That brought upon a conversation with the teacher that was full of rich pattern thinking. Why was it important? Having one thing stand in for another thing is the beginning of algebraic thinking and algebraic representation. Naming of these patterns helps children to recognize the relationships between patterns that may have different physical embodiments but ultimately are equivalent.

It’s also important we explore pattern beyond these AB repeating patterns we often see in the early grades. If we emphasize only alternating AB repeating patterns with young children this can result in some children with the idea that “red, blue, blue” can’t make a pattern. If we explore the idea that any pattern must have a “rule” that it abides by, then children can begin to see different patterns in the world and even eventually think about and discuss what the rule may be for the pattern they see.

The discussions children can have about pattern can go a long way towards helping children see pattern as dynamic, both in the attributes that can be involved and the rules that they have.