Patterns with Beads
Age group
- Early Years (Age 3 to 6)
Curriculum Goal
Kindergarten: Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviour
Recognize, explore, describe, and compare patterns, and extend, translate, and create them, using the core of a pattern and predicting what comes next (#18).
Related Links
Context
- Students will be in small groups on the carpet.
- Students should have previous experience with patterns and making patterns.
Materials
- Beads of different shapes and colours
- Personal 100s chart (Appendix A)
Lesson
- Explain to students that while they are sitting in groups, they will be making their own patterns with the beads.
- Bring to students’ attention that patterns can go in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally).
- Give each student a hundreds chart.
- Have children create a pattern on the hundreds chart in any direction.
- After students have finished their first pattern, have them describe and explain their pattern to their group.
- Ask students to keep their first pattern on the chart and add to it by making a second pattern.
- Repeat the steps above and have children make as many patterns as they can.
- Take a picture of the patterns they made for documentation.
Look Fors
- How complex are children’s patterns? Are they based on colour, shape, size, or a combination?
- How often do children create patterns in different directions? What happens when they intersect?
Related Lessons
Unifix Cube Patterns
Unifix cubes are a great tool to use to explore patterns. In this lesson, children make their own patterns.
Ladybug Patterns
By using only one kind of material, students are challenged to think about making patterns in a different way.
