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 routines 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, siva dance, etc. Respond with language or gestures that highlight features of the patterns (e.g., repeating colours, shapes, movements or sounds).

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, and 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., by placing objects in pairs or rows).

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, and get my blanket”).

Support mokopuna to notice relationships between patterns in play equipment (e.g., puzzle pieces that match 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 (e.g., by pairing shoes, sequencing materials with the same features but different sizes, singing waiata with repeating sections, or emphasising 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, leaf veins, and corners of triangles).

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

Offer sustained opportunities for children to investigate patterns in your setting or community (e.g., patterns within kōwhaiwhai, on tivaevae, 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 on a pattern. Ask "What are the repeating elements, and do they change?" Encourage them to use comparative language (e.g., small, bigger, same, and different).

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

Focus on children’s play preferences when noticing or responding to their pattern interests (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 a child’s main play purpose ( e.g., decorative patterns added to a construction of 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 it (e.g,. paint and paper for drawing, and digital devices for photographing or videoing).

When children are following a pattern of interest, listen, observe, and ask questions to learn more about how they ‘see’ or view the pattern. 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 storing the 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 sounds, movements, and/or visual patterns.

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

Support children to contribute to and lead routines based on patterns (e.g., repetitive aspects of daily routines, or celebrations of seasons and 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 experiences with patterns (e.g., in art, music, or construction). Over time, support mokopuna to expand large or continuous patterns that reflect a range of cultural features (e.g., visual designs, or beats in music).

Encourage mokopuna to look for patterns as part of their investigations or problem-solving activities. If relevant, revisit previous pattern making using narratives, photos, drawings, or documentation.

Co-construct with mokopuna simple techniques for using materials to make patterns in creative ways (e.g., turning or flipping a shape).

Initiate opportunities for mokopuna to demonstrate and explain familiar patterns to peers and to listen to others share and show their patterns. Support them to extend their explanations, modelling ways of asking questions about others’ patterns.

Support children to break big challenges down into smaller, achievable steps that use patterns (e.g., by using a stamp or template, or by drawing or making a section of a pattern for a construction and then copying/repeating it).

Support children to recognise when maths patterns (e.g., within the number system or ways of measuring) provide consistent patterns that can be used within an 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.