From AB to ABC
Start with AB patterns, which most children in Nursery can continue. ABB and ABC patterns have a longer repeating part, so children need to hold more in mind. The mixed set is a good check: every row asks them to find the rule again.
Make it physical
Before the sheet, build the same pattern with blocks, claps or children standing in a line. Then the drawing makes sense.
Curriculum links in England
- ReceptionThe Numerical Patterns goal is about patterns within numbers to 10, such as odds, evens and doubles, rather than picture sequences.
- Year 1The guidance mentions recognising and creating repeating patterns with objects and with shapes.
- Year 2Pupils order and arrange mathematical objects in patterns and sequences.
Repeating picture patterns are common in Nursery and Reception in England, but they aren’t one of the early learning goals, which look at patterns inside numbers instead. They connect most directly to the Year 1 guidance on repeating patterns with objects and shapes.
A good bridge to the Reception goal is to count: in an AB row of ten pictures, how many apples are there, and is that half? That ties the pattern back to the doubling and sharing equally that the goal does describe.
Summarised in our own words from the EYFS statutory framework (early learning goals) and the National Curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study (DfE).
