What Comes Next?

Repeating and growing patterns (AB, ABB, ABC) in shapes, colours, pictures, letters, numbers or syllables, to finish.

Repeating patterns, the first algebra a child ever meets. Each row runs its pattern through at least twice and then stops, and the child finishes it. The pattern shape is the difficulty: AB is a first pattern for a three-year-old, ABB and AAB need the child to hear the repeat rather than just alternate, and ABCD is a four-beat pattern that a five-year-old has to hold in their head. Rows can be drawn as shapes, as colours (the page's own, or real crayon colours for a red-blue garland), as pictures from a theme, which adds naming to the pattern work, or written as letters, numbers or syllables (pa pe pa pe) — your own, or chosen by the page. A growing pattern (A B, A B B, A B B B) asks for the next group rather than the next one.

Age: ages 3–7
Answer key: Included, free
Skills: pattern recognitionlogicvisual discriminationfine motor