Respond

Encourage mokopuna to respond to patterns in familiar routines and sensory experiences, e.g. playfully encourage participation in action songs with repeating parts. Wonder aloud about sameness and difference in objects and shapes, including in natural materials.

Provide cues and other prompts to help mokopuna anticipate a routine or other patterns, e.g. use a regular sequence of actions to signal the beginning of lunch.

Notice when mokopuna show interest in patterns through art, block play, sand play, poi or siva dance etc. Respond with language or gesture that highlights features of the pattern, such as repeating colour, shape, movement or sound.

Provide materials that support children’s interests and encourage them to participate in pattern making, e.g. objects that can be grouped or sequenced such as bowls that fit inside each other, pretend food or cars that can be grouped by shape, type, or colour.

Playfully invite children to repeat and change the pattern of a familiar dance, waiata, or action song.

Create opportunities for children to imitate, continue or extend existing patterns, e.g. invite them to invent parts for a repeating clapping game, an action song or a siva dance.

Notice and respond when mokopuna use regular structures to group objects, e.g. placing objects in pairs, rows, etc.

Encourage mokopuna to notice specific features of patterns and their relationships that are part of their regular routines, e.g. “After kai I put my soft toy in bed, go to the wharepaku, get my blanket”.

Support mokopuna to notice relationships between patterns in play equipment, e.g. puzzle pieces matched by colour and shape (sameness) or by colour but not shape (sameness and difference).

Provide opportunities for children to copy simple repeated patterns that they enjoy. This could include pairing shoes, sequencing materials with the same features but different sizes, waiata with repeating sections, or repetition in books.

Focus attention on the regularity and repetition of specific patterns and the features of these patterns, e.g. stripes on T-shirts, kōwhaiwhai, veins of leaves, corners of triangles.

Introduce a mix of new and unfamiliar resources to explore increasingly complex patterns, e.g. weaving, geometric puzzles, bells (sound), dominos with groups of dots.

Offer sustained opportunities for children to investigate patterns in the setting or community, e.g. patterns within kōwhaiwhai, tivaevae, on pāreu or lavalava, or in paving stones, mosaics or tiling.

Invite mokopuna to predict the next piece of a pattern, and to share their perspective of a pattern. What are the repeating elements, and do they change? Encourage them to use language of comparison, e.g. small, bigger, same, different direction etc.

Encourage mokopuna to think about features of familiar patterns and their purpose. Work with mokopuna to adapt these patterns for a purpose, e.g. adapt the arrangement of kai tables, chairs, plates and cups to suit the number of people joining.

Focus on children’s play preferences when noticing or responding to their pattern interest, e.g. is a child grouping toy animals by type, colour, size or some other way? Is the grouping (structure) related to their play interest?

Acknowledge repetitive elements of patterns that may seem incidental to the child’s main play purpose, e.g. decorative patterns added to a construction made with blocks or sand.

Ask open-ended questions to support children’s exploration of sameness and difference as they investigate, problem-solve, play, create or build, e.g. “How else might that fit? I wonder what might happen if you ...”

Continue to expand the range of modes for exploring patterns, e.g. games that repeat actions, group materials, or involve sequences; printmaking; clay-marking.

Invite children to share what they know about patterns that interest them and sustain conversations about specific aspects of the patterns.

When children create or copy patterns that are important to them, provide a range of media for them to record their pattern, e.g. paint, paper for drawing, photos or other digital devices.

When children are following a pattern of interest, listen, observe and ask questions to learn more about how they ‘see’ or view patterns. What are their working theories? Then use, “I wonder if …” questions to prompt further pattern making.

Allow time and space for pattern making, e.g. extending a pattern of blocks around a chair and across the floor. Find ways for children to return to their patterns over time, e.g. by recording or keeping patterns.

Invite and support children to show and explain their patterns to others, including whānau.

Provide specific feedback about children’s persistence and their use of patterns to problem-solve.

When children notice relationships between features of patterns, encourage them to experiment and share their ideas with others, e.g. “When I spin my hand faster the poi goes faster”; “The more I run, the more puffed I get”.

Wonder aloud to prompt children’s thinking about possible connections between sound, movement, or visual patterns.

Highlight repeated elements of patterns by revisiting smaller elements, or describing different ways the elements repeat.

Support children to contribute to and lead routines based on patterns, e.g. repetitive aspects of daily routines, celebrations of seasons, annual festivals.

Initiate opportunities for children to demonstrate and explain familiar patterns to peers and listen to others share what it is about patterns that interest them.

Support children to playfully extend their pattern activities and introduce challenges, e.g. using pattern for a new purpose.

Create opportunities for shared patterning experiences, e.g. art, music or construction. Over time, support mokopuna to expand large or continuous patterns that reflect a range of cultural designs, beats or other repetitions.

Encourage mokopuna to look for patterns as part of their investigations or problem-solving activities. If relevant, remind or revisit previous patternmaking through narrative, photos, drawings or documentation.

Co-construct with mokopuna simple techniques to use materials to make patterns in intended and creative ways, e.g. turning or flipping a shape.

Initiate opportunities for mokopuna to demonstrate and explain familiar patterns to peers and listen to others share and show their patterns. Support mokopuna to extend their explanations and model ways to ask questions about others’ patterns.

Support children to break big challenges down into smaller achievable steps using patterns, e.g. placing objects in pairs, drawing or making a section of a pattern for a construction and then copying (repeating), or using a stamp or template.

Support children to recognise when maths patterns such as the number system or ways of measuring are consistent patterns that can be used within their investigation.

Identify opportunities for children to draw or paint pictures that represent patterns they have constructed. Use these drawings and/or children’s choice of digital media, to document the pattern creations for later revisiting.