Free printable pattern worksheets
Four pages of the book, one from each stage: sort living things from made things (activity 17), put three balls in order by size (activity 33), continue a triangle, square, circle pattern (activity 53), and count the sides of a triangle, a square and a hexagon (activity 93). Each page carries our mark and this address where the book prints its page number, and is otherwise the page as printed.
US Letter · 4 pages · black and white · no signup
What is on the sheets
Print at actual size (100%), not "fit to page". The target sizes on these pages are chosen for a particular age of hand, and scaling shrinks them.
Using them well
Say the pattern out loud
Triangle, square, circle. Saying it makes the structure audible before the child can see it.
Ask for the rule, not the answer
"How did you know?" gets you more than "is that right?" That is the difference between copying a pattern and making one.
Build it before you draw it
Buttons, blocks, socks. The page is a record of thinking that happened with objects first.
Questions
What ages are these worksheets for?
Four to six. The sorting sheet suits a four-year-old. Ordering by size is four or five. The repeating pattern and counting sides are for five and six.
What is on the four sheets?
A living-or-made sorting page from Unit B, an order-by-size page from Unit C, a what-comes-next page from Unit D and a shapes page from Unit F. They are activities 17, 33, 53 and 93 of the book, pages 24, 42, 64 and 107, one per sheet.
Do I need to sign up or pay?
No. One PDF, four pages, no email address. The sheets are made by the same build that makes the book, at the same size, in black and white, so they photocopy.
Why are the shapes so plain?
Because decorated shapes measurably hurt young children on counting and patterning tasks compared with plain uniform ones. Every pattern strip and sorting set in the book is drawn the same way for that reason.
Guides that go with these
AB, ABC, AABB: what preschool pattern work teaches
Most pattern worksheets stop at AB and stay there. The progression past it is where the mathematics is.
Choosing a bookWhich activity book for which age: 3, 4, 5 and 6
The maze book lists from three. The others list from four. Here is what sits inside those ranges: the book for each age, the page to open it at, and the sign that says move up.
For grown-upsHow to sit beside a child doing a worksheet
The most challenging part of an activity book is not on the page. It is sitting there while a four-year-old gets it wrong.
How we make themWhy our activity books are printed in black and white
The research behind it, the one finding that argues against it, and what the child gets in return.
Where these came from
These are 4 pages out of 100.
Matching, sorting, seriation, and patterns from AB to growing. This is the thinking a child needs before arithmetic makes sense. Seven units, each opening at its own easiest version: same and different, sorting by one rule then two, ordering by size, AB through AABB and growing patterns, sequencing events, shape and position, then challenges that combine them.
