Patterning With Preschoolers

It is really hard for me to believe, but my little man will be old enough for school in September! As a December baby he will most likely be among the youngest in his class, and this along with his rambunctious personality has me concerned with his ability to focus in the classroom. We have been working on many of the literacy and numeracy skills that he will need for school, and it has been very important that they remain super engaging in order to maintain his interest. This summer, my goal is to continue learning in fun ways, but to begin including more activities that will improve his ability to complete a task.

Patterning is a great skill to work on with children of all ages. It lends itself easily to crafty activities that kids can get excited about. This morning, Andrew and I created a fun "Snack Necklace" that had him learning about patterns, counting and developing his fine motor skills. As an added bonus, he sat in a chair and focused on the project for almost ten minutes (more than you can expect for a three year old)!

For this patterning activity we used Fruity Cheerios. We started by identifying all of the colours that we had to work with and then Andrew selected three different colours to use in his Snack Necklace. I drew three cheerios in the appropriate colours to use as a planning guide.

Andrew placed one cheerio under each drawing and then we placed those cheerios on a bobby pin attached to a length of yarn. Andrew pulled the cheerios to the end of the piece of yarn and started again.

After repeating these steps a few times, I challenged Andrew to try two rows of his pattern. We practised counting the pieces of cereal as they were added to the necklace. 

Andrew was quite proud of his finished product and is really looking forward to wearing it to the park later today so that he can snack on the go!

Here are some other learning activities that your little ones might enjoy!

Chalkboard Table Games

Letter Sounds

Sidewalk Learning

Linking Up
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