Materials
Black and white items (i.e. dried black beans and dried lima beans, black and white pom poms, black and white pieces of construction paper)
Directions
Introduce your preschooler to simple repeating patterns by starting a pattern using black and white materials. Place black object, then a white object, then black, then white. Ask your child what color comes next. Invite your child to continue the pattern. Then ask your child to create his own black and white pattern.
For younger children, you may want to draw a pattern using black and white squares on a long piece of paper. Encourage your child to place black paper squares on top of the black squares drawn on the paper and white paper squares on the white squares drawn on the paper.
Lesson Extension
Introduce your child to more difficult repeating patterns – black, black, white; black white, white; black, black, white, white