Pattern Block Activities in Kindergarten

Use pattern blocks for hands-on lessons.

Pattern blocks are plastic or wooden blocks that come in a variety of colors and shapes. They are an ideal tool to use with kindergarten students to teach basic math concepts and to promote problem-solving skills. If you're a kindergarten teacher, use these manipulatives to teach hands-on and interactive lessons.

Sorting

Being able to sort objects based on different attributes is a skill that is used in everyday life. It's a math skill that children should master by the end of their kindergarten year. Use pattern blocks to teach this skill to your kindergarten students. Provide students with a pile of pattern blocks. Instruct them to sort the blocks by size, shape and color.

Patterns

As the name suggests, pattern blocks can be used to teach children how to create patterns. Like sorting, being able to create and recognize patterns is a math skill that should be mastered in kindergarten. To use the pattern blocks to create patterns, make different patterns on a sheet of paper using letters--ABABA, ABCABC, AABBAABB, ABBABBA, for instance. Instruct children to use the letters as a guide for creating patterns with the blocks. Have them select a shape to represent each letter and recreate the pattern with the chosen shapes. For example, to recreate an ABABA pattern, a child may use triangles and squares, making a triangle, square, triangle, square, triangle pattern.

Pattern Block Pictures

Promote critical thinking by using pattern blocks to make pictures. Provide students with a pile of pattern blocks. Tell them to choose a certain amount of the different shapes--for instance, two rectangles, four triangles, two squares and a circle. After they've selected the chosen shapes, tell them that you would like them to use the shapes to create a picture of a flower. Students try to arrange the pattern blocks into the shape of a flower. Continue the activity by asking students to create different pictures with different shapes.

Pattern Block Addition

Use pattern blocks as manipulatives for teaching addition. Write an addition problem on a piece of paper--2+3, for example. Children would select two pattern blocks for the number two and three pattern blocks for the number three. In order to solve the problem, they would combine all of the blocks and count how many there are in total--five. The blocks provide children with a concrete example of the math problem, making it easier to understand.

References

• Kindergarten Lessons: Kindergarten Pattern Activities