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Pattern Activities for Kindergarten

November 3, 2014 by Sarah 9 Comments

You know how sometimes I tell you two seemingly unrelated things and then, after a little while, they both tie together so nicely and the activity makes perfect sense?  Well, I’m about to do that again with this post on pattern activities for kindergarten, so please bare with me.  Or skip ahead if this is a last minute rest time idea — I know how important rest time is. SO important in fact, that I wrote an ENTIRE book on Quiet Bins for a Year of rest times!

We have been working on some pattern activities for Sam, my kindergartener.  We have been running the gamete of threading beads onto pipe cleaners, making patterns with cut up paper, and using our bodies to jump, hop, and skip them.  Running the gamete; I mean it quite literally.  We decided to do some painting, and I was encouraging Sam to paint some patterns – he was doing quite well.

He wanted to continue painting patterns during his rest time (which is the time he plays independently while I do some work).  But I am no rookie, my 4 year old, unsupervised, with paint is not going to end well.  Instead, I suggested he use the clothespin and popsicle stick reading activity we created earlier this week, as Sam is slowly learning to read.

Sam really wanted to continue patterning (and I really wanted rest time to begin).  The clothespins make such a nice rest time activity …. (and finally ….)

Our Clothespin Pattern Activities for Kindergarten!

pattern activities for preschoolers

I decided to combine our clothespin activity with our painting patterns activity.

I painted a few popsicle sticks with patterns.  Purple, Blue, Purple, Blue …. and Orange, Orange, Red …. and so on.  I left room at the end of each popsicle stick for Sam to continue the pattern independently.

I then painted the tips of a bunch of clothespins the various colours.  A tip to make this quicker {should you also be waiting for rest time to begin} is to clip them all to a piece of cardboard, paint them all the various colours, and pop a hair dryer over top for a few minutes.

patterning activities

They dried very quickly and Sam was able to play with some lovely, bright, and colourful pattern activities for Kindergarten.

how we learn to pattern in kindergarten

Since we had been working on patterns for sometime, and Sam was really get the hang of them, I decided this activity might be a good opportunity to introduce ABC patterns.

I wrote some alphabet letters on clothespins (A, B, and C).  Then I modeled for Sam how this type of pattern works.

If we had a popsicle stick with the colours red, blue, red, blue, we would clip the letters A, B, A, B.  If we had the colors orange, orange, red, blue, orange, orange, red, blue, we would clip the letters A, A, B, C, A, A, B, C.  After I modeled a few he was eager to give it a try.  This can be a tricky concept, but Sam caught on right away (love when that happens!).

pattern activities for preschool

Soon I will have Sam try these ABC patterns and have him extend them on his own.  But like all things we do, we will do it slowly, introducing ideas and concepts slowly, with lots of time to play with these new ideas before building on them.  Definitely how my little ones learn best.

These clothespin pattern activities will get added to our quiet time activities for Sam to play with and practice whenever he likes.  Or whenever Mama needs a few minutes of quiet.

Quiet Bins to the rescue! Be sure to check out my eBook and Book, A Year of Educational Quiet Bins, you will be so glad you did.

 

 

Filed Under: Kindergarten, Learn, Letters and Numbers, Numbers and Counting

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Comments

  1. Susen @ Dabbling Momma says

    November 3, 2014 at 7:27 am

    This is a great way to learn patterns! Perfect for a busy bag too!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      November 3, 2014 at 8:45 am

      Thank you Susen – it would be great for a busy bag!

      Reply
  2. carolyn roberts says

    November 3, 2014 at 10:35 am

    I love this activity for my students

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      November 3, 2014 at 10:30 pm

      Oh I am so happy you find it useful Carolyn! Thank you for letting me know. How old are your students?

      Reply
  3. Nichole {youclevermonkey} says

    November 10, 2014 at 7:27 am

    I do so love everything about this post! I’m stealing your idea to use at the preschool I work at as we’ve been looking at patterns recently and the kids will love this prompt I think.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      December 1, 2014 at 8:45 pm

      So glad you find it useful and think it will work with your group Nichole. And thank you for popping over to let me know!

      Reply
  4. Jennb223 says

    January 7, 2016 at 11:54 am

    Happy New Year! I am so glad I found your website. I have been reading your ideas for the last 2 days during napping/quite time. I love this idea. Not only will it help my 12 boys and 4 girls with patterns, it will also help them develop fine muscles for writing. I also love having quiet time ideas. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      January 8, 2016 at 9:27 am

      Well you just made my day Jenn. Thank you for your kind words! I am so glad you found me too and I am glad you find this space helpful.

      Reply
  5. Heather MacNeil says

    February 20, 2016 at 9:52 am

    I love clothespin activities and this one is perfect for preschoolers.

    Reply

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I'm Sarah, teacher turned homeschooling mom of 4, reading specialist, and curriculum creator. I share our adventures, crafts, and learning activities right here with you.

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