Red, blue, red, blue… what comes next? Learning to recognize repeating patterns is one of those early math skills children can practice with just about anything, from colorful blocks to toys lined up on the floor.
My preschool pattern worksheets give children plenty of practice recognizing, continuing, and creating patterns using familiar pictures, shapes, and colors.
Children will find missing pictures, spot mistakes in patterns, cut and paste the correct answers, and create their own repeating sequences. The activities begin with simple two-picture patterns before introducing more challenging combinations.
Learning patterns with colors and pictures
The easiest way to introduce patterns is with two objects that repeat in the same order. For example, apple, banana, apple, banana.
This is called an AB pattern, and it’s a good starting point for preschoolers.
Begin with the illustrated pattern cards. They show how different patterns work, using pictures of shapes, fruit, weather, and other familiar objects.
Before moving on to the worksheets, try making a few patterns together using things around the house.
Line up a red block, then a blue block, and repeat. Ask your child what should come next. You can even make patterns using actions, such as clap, stomp, clap, stomp.
Once your child understands that the same order keeps repeating, they’re ready to try completing patterns on paper.
Find the missing picture in the pattern
The first activities focus on recognizing what comes next in a repeating sequence.
Children look at rows of colorful pictures, including apples and bananas, cats and dogs, sunshine and clouds, and different colored blocks. Each row has a missing space, and they need to choose the picture that completes the pattern.
The worksheets include several different activities:
- Find the missing picture: Look at a repeating sequence and circle the correct picture to complete it.
- Cut and paste patterns: Cut out the pictures and glue them into the missing spaces.
- Find what repeats: Identify the pair of pictures that keeps repeating in the same order.
- Pattern or not a pattern: Look at a row of pictures and decide if it follows a repeating rule.
Encourage children to name each picture from left to right rather than guessing the next answer.
For example, saying “cat, dog, cat, dog, cat…” makes it easier to hear what should come next.
AB, AAB, ABB and ABC patterns explained
Once children are comfortable with two pictures taking turns, they can start exploring longer repeating patterns.
The worksheets introduce four more pattern types:
- AAB: Two matching pictures followed by one different picture, such as apple, apple, banana.
- ABB: One picture followed by two matching pictures, such as sun, cloud, cloud.
- ABC: Three different pictures repeating in order, such as circle, square, triangle.
- AABB: Two matching pictures followed by two of another kind, such as star, star, heart, heart.
Each pattern type has an illustrated example showing how the sequence works.
Children then practice identifying the next picture using colorful shapes, animals, fruit, and weather pictures.
There’s no need to rush through all the different patterns. Introduce one new sequence at a time and return to simpler examples whenever your child needs more practice.
Spot the mistake and create your own patterns
One of the activities turns children into little pattern detectives!
Instead of simply finding the next picture, they need to look along a row, find the picture that doesn’t belong, cross it out, and choose the correct replacement.
It’s a different way to practice patterns because children must look at the entire sequence and work out where the repeating order has gone wrong.
Other activities let children copy color patterns, trace or draw matching shapes, and continue a sequence by drawing the next three pictures.
Once they’ve practiced following patterns, there’s a page where they can create their own.
They’ll color an AB pattern, make an AAB pattern, draw a repeating picture or shape pattern, and then invent a pattern of their choice.
You can ask your child to explain their pattern afterward. What repeats? What would come next if the row continued?
Hands-on pattern activities with blocks and counters
The printable also includes reusable pattern strips for AB, AAB, ABB, ABC, and AABB patterns.
Each strip starts with a few pictures and has empty boxes for children to continue the sequence.
Instead of drawing, children can fill the spaces with small objects such as blocks, buttons, counters, or pom poms. It’s a nice way to turn the worksheet activity into something they can move around and change.
You can use linking cubes or pattern blocks to create different sequences. These are affiliate links.
For the regular worksheets, pencils or crayons are enough. The cut and paste activity also needs scissors and glue.
The printable includes a mixed pattern review and an answer key, making it easy to revisit the different sequences after your child has practiced them.
For another activity involving shapes and visual matching, try my free cut and paste shapes sorting worksheet. You can also explore the preschool shapes worksheets and activities for more shape recognition practice.
Get your free preschool pattern worksheets
Start with simple AB patterns, then work your way through missing pictures, longer sequences, pattern mistakes, and creating new patterns.
Download the free preschool pattern worksheets below for a variety of activities that help children practice recognizing what repeats and figuring out what comes next.
