Pattern awareness is key to child development. The ability to recognize and reproduce patterns as well as the ability to predict how a pattern will continue is a skill that positively affects future mathematical understanding and thinking. Math is made out of patterns and logical sequences, so the earlier our kids start with pattern awareness the better! This is why I created the pattern book, so your children can record the patterns they see while on the go. Whether you are waiting around at the airport or doing a nature walk, patterns can be spotted anywhere. And what better way to help them learn and exercise that part of the brain than keeping a record of them. It is also a great way of introducing some scientific skills, such as observation and note-taking. 

Pattern awareness includes recognizing patterns, identifying the relationship between its elements (for every blue tile there is two green), observing regularities and isolating the unit that is repeating. With this pattern book, your children will work on their pattern awareness by looking for patterns in their surroundings. They will then reproduce them in their book and will be asked to describe them. It has a brief introduction with types of patterns. This simple activity can be done at any time with your children and it will greatly help them with their pattern recognition skills. 

Free Pattern Book

To create the booklet first download the booklet. Print as many Pattern and Pattern Art pages as you want. In order to put the booklet together fold the front cover and cut all other pages in half. Arrange them accordingly and insert them into the folded front cover and then staple everything together.

Link to the free printable: My Pattern Book

Other fun ways to practice pattern awareness:

You can use this booklet to create some pattern art! At the end of the book, you will find some blank pages with some crisscrossing lines. To create some art, select a pattern for each blank space and reproduce different patterns using different colors. The results will amaze you! 

Another thing you can do with your kids is to go over their patterns and ask them the following question:

• If your pattern were made out of sounds, what would it sound like?

Collect some objects you can bang on and try to reproduce as many patterns as possible. Have fun discovering new rhythms in the patterns.

Hope you enjoy the book and collect a lot of interesting patterns! 

Check out other fun STEM activities to sneak in some math learning:

• STEM activity: Build a pyramid and learn about shapes
• DIY math game with playdough
• STEM challenge: The Tower of Random Things
• STEM Road Trip Experiment

Happy STEM learning!