Lesson 1: Finding Patterns
About 15-20 minutes -- Screen-free lesson
What You Will Learn
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Explain what a pattern is in your own words
- Spot patterns in shapes, colors, and numbers
- Find patterns in nature and music
- Describe the "rule" that makes a pattern work
What Is a Pattern?
Look around you right now. Can you see anything that repeats? Maybe the tiles on the floor go dark, light, dark, light. Maybe your shirt has stripes that repeat. Maybe the fence outside has posts that are evenly spaced.
All of these are patterns. A pattern is something that repeats in a way you can predict. Once you spot the rule, you can figure out what comes next.
Pattern: Something that repeats in a regular, predictable way. When you know the rule of a pattern, you can predict what comes next.
Talk About It
Ask your child: "Can you find three patterns in this room right now?" Look for patterns in floor tiles, wallpaper, fabric, bookshelves, or window panes. Patterns are everywhere once you start looking!
Patterns in Shapes and Colors
The simplest patterns use shapes or colors that repeat. Look at these and see if you can spot the rule:
Try It: What Comes Next?
What shape should fill the blank?
Here is a harder one with colors:
Try It: What Color Comes Next?
How to Find the Rule
To figure out any pattern, ask yourself these questions:
- What repeats? Look for a group of items that shows up more than once.
- How long is the repeating part? Is it 2 items? 3 items? 4 items?
- Can I predict what comes next? If you can, you found the rule!
Patterns in Numbers
Numbers can have patterns too! When you count by twos (2, 4, 6, 8...), you are following a pattern. Let us look at some number patterns.
Try It: What Number Comes Next?
Try It: What Number Comes Next?
Try It: This One Is Trickier!
Rule: The instruction that tells you how to get from one part of the pattern to the next. For the pattern 2, 4, 6, 8, the rule is "add 2." Every pattern has a rule.
Patterns in Nature
Nature is full of incredible patterns! Scientists and mathematicians have studied these patterns for hundreds of years.
Patterns You Can Find Outside
- Snowflakes: Every snowflake has six sides (six-fold symmetry). The branches repeat around the center.
- Sunflowers: The seeds in a sunflower are arranged in spirals. If you count the spirals, you often get numbers like 21 and 34.
- Honeycombs: Bees build their honeycombs using hexagons (six-sided shapes) that fit together perfectly with no gaps.
- Zebra stripes: Each zebra has a unique pattern of black and white stripes, but the pattern of alternating stripes is the same idea.
- Tree branches: A big branch splits into smaller branches, which split into even smaller ones. The same splitting pattern repeats at different sizes.
- Waves: Ocean waves repeat in a rhythm. They come in, go out, come in, go out.
Unplugged Activity: Nature Pattern Hunt
Go outside (or look out a window) and try to find at least 5 patterns in nature. Here are some places to look:
- Leaves on a plant (how are they arranged?)
- Petals on a flower (how many? are they evenly spaced?)
- Bark on a tree (do you see repeating lines or shapes?)
- Clouds (do they form rows or groups?)
- Shadows (do fence shadows make a repeating pattern?)
Draw or describe the patterns you find!
Patterns in Music
Music is built on patterns! Every song has a beat, and that beat is a pattern. Clap along to your favorite song and you will feel the pattern.
Musical Patterns
- Beat: The steady pulse of a song. Tap your foot -- that is the beat pattern.
- Rhythm: The pattern of long and short sounds. "LONG short short LONG short short" is a rhythm pattern.
- Chorus: The part of a song that repeats. Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus -- that is a pattern!
- Scales: Musical notes go up in a pattern (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do).
Unplugged Activity: Clap a Pattern
Create a clapping pattern and teach it to your parent! Try these:
- Easy: clap clap pause clap clap pause (repeat)
- Medium: clap clap stomp clap clap stomp (repeat)
- Hard: clap stomp clap clap stomp stomp (repeat)
Take turns! One person creates a pattern, the other has to figure out the rule and join in.
Talk About It
Ask your child: "Why do you think songs repeat the chorus? What would a song be like if nothing repeated?" Help them see that repetition makes things easier to follow and remember -- for people AND for computers!
Spot the Pattern Challenge
Try It: Can You Find All the Rules?
Pattern A:
Pattern B:
Pattern C:
Pattern D:
Check Your Understanding
1. What is a pattern?
2. What is the "rule" of a pattern?
3. Name two places you can find patterns in nature.
Key Takeaways
- A pattern is something that repeats in a predictable way.
- Every pattern has a rule that explains how it works.
- Patterns exist in shapes, colors, numbers, nature, and music.
- To find a pattern, ask: "What repeats? How long is the repeating part?"
- Number patterns can go up (add), go down (subtract), or grow quickly (double).
- Spotting patterns is a key skill for coding -- computers love patterns!
Ready for More?
Next Lesson
In Lesson 2, you will practice completing and extending patterns -- filling in missing pieces and creating your own!
Start Lesson 2