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Pattern Block Designs

Use colorful pattern blocks or cut-out shapes to copy and extend simple AB and ABB patterns. Build animal and vehicle shapes with blocks!

Hands OnAbout 20 minutesScreen-freeParent preview recommended

Materials and setup

How this changes by age

Pre-K (ages 3–4)

Use colorful pattern blocks or cut-out shapes to copy and extend simple AB and ABB patterns. Build animal and vehicle shapes with blocks!

Difficulty 1 of 3

Steps

  1. Lay out pattern blocks or colored shapes on the table.
  2. Start a simple AB pattern (red-blue-red-blue) and ask child to continue it.
  3. Try an ABB pattern (red-blue-blue-red-blue-blue).
  4. Then free-build: make an animal, car, or house using the shapes!
  5. Count how many of each color or shape they used.
  6. Tell a grown-up one thing that surprised you.

Learning objectives

  • Recognize and extend simple AB and ABB patterns
  • Identify colors and shapes within pattern sequences
  • Create designs using geometric shapes

Kindergarten (ages 5–6)

Create complex patterns (ABC, AABB, growing patterns) and design symmetrical pictures using pattern blocks. Explore how shapes fit together.

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Review patterns: AB, ABB, ABC. Create one of each.
  2. Introduce a growing pattern: 1 block, 2 blocks, 3 blocks... What comes next?
  3. Create a symmetrical design: build one half, then mirror it on the other side.
  4. Design a complex picture (rocket, animal, building) using pattern blocks.
  5. Record your design by tracing the blocks and coloring them in.
  6. Tell a grown-up one thing that surprised you.

Learning objectives

  • Create and extend complex patterns including growing patterns
  • Understand and create symmetrical designs
  • Compose larger shapes from smaller geometric shapes

Early elementary (ages 6–8)

Explore numerical and geometric patterns, create input-output tables, and design tessellation art. Discover how repeating patterns connect to multiplication.

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Create a growing pattern with blocks: 2, 4, 6, 8... What is the rule? Write it as 'add 2 each time.'
  2. Build an input-output table: if the rule is 'multiply by 3', fill in outputs for inputs 1-10.
  3. Explore tessellations: which pattern block shapes tile perfectly with no gaps? Try triangles, squares, and hexagons.
  4. Create a tessellation artwork using one or two shapes that tile without gaps. Color it with a repeating color pattern.
  5. Write the multiplication facts hidden in your growing patterns (e.g., 3, 6, 9, 12 = the 3s times table).
  6. Challenge: find the 20th term in the pattern 5, 10, 15, 20... without counting every term.
  7. In one sentence, tell a parent or sibling what surprised you today.

Learning objectives

  • Identify rules in growing number patterns and extend them
  • Create and use input-output tables with multiplication rules
  • Understand tessellations and which shapes tile without gaps

Upper elementary (ages 8–10)

Investigate mathematical patterns including sequences, algebraic expressions, and geometric transformations. Create complex tessellation art and write algebraic rules for patterns.

Difficulty 3 of 3

Steps

  1. Study these sequences and write the rule for each: (a) 3, 7, 11, 15... (b) 2, 6, 18, 54... (c) 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8...
  2. For sequence (a), write an algebraic expression: the nth term = 4n - 1. Verify by plugging in n = 1, 2, 3.
  3. Create a two-shape tessellation and identify the transformations used: translation (slide), rotation (turn), or reflection (flip).
  4. Design a complex tessellation inspired by M.C. Escher: start with a simple shape, modify one side, and translate the modification to the opposite side.
  5. Calculate: if your tessellation pattern continues on a 30cm x 30cm surface, and each tile is 3cm x 3cm, how many tiles do you need? What if the tile is 2cm x 5cm?
  6. Write a report explaining how patterns in math connect to patterns in nature (honeycombs, pinecones, sunflowers).
  7. In one sentence, tell a parent or sibling what surprised you today.

Learning objectives

  • Write algebraic expressions to describe pattern rules
  • Identify and apply geometric transformations: translation, rotation, reflection
  • Connect mathematical patterns to real-world applications in nature and art

Safety and evidence note

Read the full activity before beginning. An adult should supervise tools, heat, food, outdoor work, movement, and experiments as appropriate. Completion records that the activity was done; the child’s explanation, work sample, photo, or demonstration is stronger evidence of learning than a completion check alone.

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