25 Pattern Activities for Preschoolers that Unlock Your Child’s Creativity

Regarding early childhood education, patterns are an essential building block of mathematical learning. By recognizing and creating patterns, preschoolers can develop crucial math skills that will serve them well in the future.

But how can you make pattern recognition fun and engaging for young preschoolers? Here are 25 hands-on activities that can help kids develop their pattern recognition skills while having a blast.

Fantastic Pattern Activities for Preschoolers

Patterning the Pasta

Patterns with pasta are another excellent way for young children to experiment with pattern creation. Sorting and arranging different pasta shapes can be a fun and creative activity that helps them understand the concept of patterns.

Furthermore, they can experiment with combinations and see how different shapes and colors work together to make unique designs.

Color Patterns

Sorting and arranging objects of different colors is a simple but effective way to help preschoolers and kindergarteners develop their pattern recognition skills.

Whether they’re working with blocks, toys, or other objects, sorting and arranging items of different colors can provide an excellent opportunity for them to create their colorful designs.

Hopscotching with Patterns

For a physical and active approach, Pattern Hopscotch is a classic game that can introduce pattern recognition to preschoolers and kindergarteners.

By hopping on a hopscotch board with alternating colors, they can practice identifying patterns and creating their designs while getting some exercise and having fun.

Beads

If you’re looking for something a little different, try beads to teach patterns, as Stringing colorful dots is a great way for preschoolers and kindergarteners to practice creating designs.

Your child can create beautiful patterns and experiment with color combinations by combining colorful beads of different shapes and sizes. They’ll develop fine motor skills and learn about colors and practices simultaneously.

Stickers

Kids of all ages love stickers, and by using them to create patterns, you’ll be introducing them to the concept of patterns without them even realizing it! Whether using hearts, stars, or other shapes, the children will have a blast making their unique patterns.

Let them go wild with different shapes and colors, and watch their creativity and imagination come to life.

Lacing

Patterning with lacing is an excellent activity for developing fine motor skills and pattern recognition. The preschoolers can practice creating patterns while having fun by threading string or ribbon through pre-punched holes in a card or foam board.

This activity is a fun challenge, as they can experiment with different colors and patterns to create their unique designs.

Sticks

Making Patterns with Sticks is a versatile and tactile way for preschoolers and kindergarteners to create their designs. With sticks, preschoolers can create unique designs by arranging sticks of different lengths and colors.

Placing stakes of varying sizes and colors allows them to develop hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness while having fun exploring patterns.

Patterns with Movement

To get started, demonstrate a simple pattern of movements for the kids to follow. You can make it as straightforward or challenging as you want, depending on the age and ability of the children. For example, you might start with a pattern like “clap, click, turn around, repeat” and have the kids follow along.

Once the kids have mastered the way, it’s time to get creative and create their movement sequences. Please encourage them to think outside the box and develop unique, fun patterns that challenge their bodies and minds.

Pattern Matching Game

Playing a pattern-matching game is an excellent way for preschoolers and kindergarteners to sharpen their cognitive skills while having fun. Print out or draw patterns on cards or pieces of paper, shuffle them, and have your little ones match them up.

As they progress through the game, they’ll recognize patterns more quickly and improve their memory skills. To add an extra element of challenge, you can create more complex designs and increase the number of cards.

Patterns with numbers

To make this activity more engaging, you can use manipulatives like blocks, beads, or stickers to create the number patterns.

This hands-on approach helps preschoolers and kindergarteners understand counting, addition, and subtraction more concretely.

Stamping

With this activity, your preschoolers and kindergarteners will have a blast creating unique patterns on paper using stamps of different shapes. Not only is the action a ton of fun, but it’s also a great way to help your preschoolers develop their fine motor skills.

They’ll work on hand-eye coordination and dexterity while holding and manipulating the stamps. Additionally, with so many different stamp shapes to choose from, they’ll have the opportunity to get creative with their designs.

Playdoughing the Patterns

This activity is perfect for young children who love exploring and creating with their hands. Using different colors of playdough, the preschoolers can make all sorts of fun shapes and designs.

Whether they’re making a rainbow snake or a flower garden, they’ll love the endless possibilities that playdough offers. Moreover, as they work on their designs, they’ll develop essential hand-eye coordination skills that will serve them well in other areas of life.

Leafy Patterns

With this activity, your little ones can explore the beauty of nature while also developing their pattern-recognition skills. All you need to do is go on a leaf-hunting adventure!

Collect leaves of different shapes and sizes, and let the children’s imaginations run wild as they arrange them into unique patterns. This activity is tons of fun and an excellent way to teach your child about the natural world and the diversity of plant life.

Shape Sorters

These toys are not only entertaining but also perfect for practicing pattern recognition. This activity with a shape sorter allows the children to practice matching different shapes to the corresponding holes.

With the help of this activity, they’ll be developing their ability to recognize patterns, an essential skill for math and problem-solving later on. Moreover, the preschoolers will love the challenge of figuring out which shape goes where.

Tangrams

Tangrams are geometric shapes that can be arranged in many different ways to create unique designs. This activity requires the ship’s captain to challenge the little preschoolers and kindergartners to make specific shapes or designs using the tangram pieces.

The little angels can develop their pattern recognition and spatial awareness skills by experimenting with different configurations.

Rainbow

To enhance the fun and learning required for this activity, you can encourage your children to use their imagination and create unique patterns with the colors of the rainbow.

Such experience will give them a sense of ownership and creativity while still learning about practices. Additionally, you can talk about how rainbows are formed in nature, which can be a fun and educational way to tie in science and nature concepts.

Puzzles of Patterns

With this puzzle activity involving patterns, all the preschoolers will have the opportunity to create unique designs using puzzle pieces that fit together in different ways.

They’ll need to use their problem-solving skills to determine which part goes where and how to create the desired pattern.

Additionally, as they work on the puzzle, they’ll develop their ability to recognize patterns, an essential skill to grow as a preschooler.

Ribboning

This simple activity involves using different ribbon colors to create unique patterns and designs. All your preschoolers and kindergarteners need is some ribbon, scissors, and a surface to weave the ribbon on.

Remember, there are no right or wrong ways to make a ribbon pattern. Your child can experiment with different colors, textures, and shapes to create their unique masterpiece.

Blocks

As the name suggests, this activity will involve blocks to create patterns. The children can create patterns in fun shapes and colors with just a set of wooden or plastic blocks and a flat surface.

As the activity of creating designs with blocks continues, the children will naturally tap into improving their hand-eye coordination and problem-solving abilities.

Through this activity, they’ll exercise their creativity while exploring different combinations of blocks to see what patterns they can make.

Walk and make patterns.

Looking for patterns during a walk can turn a simple stroll into a magical and educational adventure for preschoolers. They can watch for repeating shapes, colors, or designs as they explore the natural world or the built environment.

Their curiosity will be sparked with each pattern they discover, and their pattern recognition skills will be sharpened. Whether it’s the arrangement of the leaves on a tree or the tiles on a building, patterns are everywhere, waiting to be discovered.

Felt the Pattern

You only need felt sheets in different colors and scissors to perform this activity. Then, with your preschoolers, carefully cut out different shapes, such as triangles, circles, squares, and rectangles, and let the children arrange them on a felt board or any other surface. The possibilities are endless as they can make stripes, polka dots, or even create their designs.

Pattern Yarns

Creating patterns with yarns can be an enjoyable and engaging activity for preschoolers to perform. Children can create intricate and unique designs that stimulate their creativity and imagination by using different colors of yarn and weaving them in and out of a loom or other surface.

Whether making simple stripes or complex geometric shapes, this activity allows the children to hone their pattern recognition skills.

Rocking Patterns 

Let your kindergarteners explore the wonders found in nature, specifically rocks, and create beautiful patterns with different types of rocks or stones. They can arrange them in various orders, and you’ll be amazed at the unique designs they come up with!

Not only is this activity a fun way to spend time together, but it’s also great for developing shape and pattern recognition.

Magnetic Patterns

Get ready to watch the preschoolers blooming with creativity when you introduce different colors and shapes of magnets. As they play with different colors and shapes of interest, they can arrange them on a magnetic board or another surface to create stunning patterns that are sure to impress.

Not only will they have a blast, but this activity also helps to develop fine motor skills and pattern recognition, making it a win-win for both parent and child.

 

Clapping games for patterns

Clapping games have been around for generations and are enjoyed by children worldwide. They are a lot of fun and help preschoolers learn patterns naturally.

These games can be challenging for some, so teaching younger preschoolers simpler clapping sequences to build up their skills is crucial. There are countless clapping games to choose from, but some classics include “Miss Mary Mack,” “Pat-A-Cake,” and “A Sailor Went to Sea.

Paper Plate Patterns

To begin with, you will need some paper plates, pegs in different colors, and some paint if you want to make a painted pattern.

The activity involves placing the pegs around the plate in a particular way, matching the painted pattern around the edges of the container.

This activity can also teach them about patterns and colors while allowing them to use their imagination. You could also use the pegs to make shapes like circles, triangles, and squares, which can help kids to develop their understanding of geometry.