A pattern can consist of colours, shapes, objects or events that occur in a particular order. The cycle of the children's day at nursery is represented by a set of routines that are repeated again and again, just like a pattern. This system of regulating the events of the day helps children to predict what will happen next. It encourages them to feel secure and to behave in ways expected of them. It helps them to develop independence skills, as they become active participants in the routine tasks that are offered to them. The day at nursery is organised in relation to the clock and children can learn about time passing. In a similar way, the cycle of the seasons follows a recurring pattern.
Practitioners need, therefore, to create as many opportunities as possible within the daily routine of the nursery for children to build their knowledge of patterns by doing practical tasks. Always remind them as they work that they are following or creating patterns, and emphasise the vocabulary they should acquire in the process.
Physical and musical activities should also involve children in following patterns, and practitioners can organise games again involving sequence and pattern.
Ultimately, the activities that focus children's attention on pattern making will help them become more conscious of their own skills. Good support during the project will ensure that the children develop a good understanding of simple mathematical concepts.
Activity 1
Daily routines
Lunch times Encourage the children to prepare the table for lunch and ensure that setting the table for a meal is used to promote mathematical skills.
The children chosen to set the table should find the correct number of knives, forks and spoons and lay them out in a regular pattern at each place setting, giving each child a fork on the left, a knife on the right and a spoon over the top of each plate position.
Break time Every day involve the children in the task of cutting fruit and setting it out on the plate in their own chosen pattern for break time. For example, they could place one slice of apple, a piece of banana and a segment of tangerine in a sequence to create a repeated pattern around the plate.
Daily routines Emphasise patterns in the children's daily routine. The more familiar children become with the sequence of daily activities, such as playing, washing, eating, resting, and exercise, the more they will be able to anticipate what will happen next and what they are expected to do. This knowledge will make them feel more confident and secure in the nursery.
Activity 2
Pattern games
Follow the leader Play this popular game outdoors. When playing it, encourage the children to stand in a line behind you and to copy your pattern of movements as they follow you around the play area. They will be repeating the pattern that you have initiated. Examples of movements you can make should include: moving fast and slow, jumping, hopping and waving your arms in a circle.
Assault course Create a series of movements that will take the children over, along, under, between, through and around the equipment. Encourage the children to follow each other on the course so that they can anticipate what is expected of them at any stage by copying the person in front.
Familiar objects Make patterns with objects using familiar recycled objects to make patterns. Collect plastic milk container screw-tops and then clean them. You will need a range of colours: blue, red and green. These bottle tops are sturdy and excellent for small hands to pick up and move around. Design your own sequencing cards to encourage the children to replicate simple patterns or to be used as a stimulus for them to make up their own ones.
Alternatively, collect used and washed Marmite jars, which are strong and attractive objects in a range of sizes. The children should undo all the lids, mix up the jars and the lids, and then match up the correct lids to the jars and put them in order of size. Alternatively, they could make up their own pattern or order.
Light games Another exciting way to play with patterns is creating light patterns on the walls or ceilings with torches. It is surprising how much time and effort the children will invest in an activity, if they can use torches in a darkened room.
* Fold pieces of sugar paper in half and then fold again into quarters. The children can now cut away small sections of paper along the folded sides to create a pattern. Open the paper to see the pattern that has been created.
* Provide a selection of different torches. Turn off the main lights in the room and encourage the children to shine the torchlight through the cut paper to observe the patterned effect that is projected on to the ceiling.
* Suggest that children practise cutting lots of different patterns in new pieces of paper to compare the silhouettes made.
Activity 3
Story and rhyme
* Share with the children stories that have repeated patterns in their narrative - a feature common in children's literature. For instance, in 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', Goldilocks first tastes Daddy Bear's porridge, then Mummy Bear's porridge and then Baby Bear's porridge. Later she tries their three chairs and their three beds, testing them in the same sequence. This emphasis on repetition encourages children to concentrate and anticipate what will happen next. It helps them recall the sequence of events in the story and makes it easier to remember.
* Share poems and draw attention to repeated rhythms and rhymes.
Activity 4
Music
* Pattern is central to music and present in everything from the simple ring of the mobile phone to the pop song and piano concerto. Pattern forms not just the rhythmic building blocks (such as the simple changing rhythms in 'Three Blind Mice') but also the greater structure (take the pattern of verse, chorus, verse in songs). The more complex the piece of music, the more varied the patterns that can be identified (consider the layered patterns in harmonies).
* Early years practitioners can develop children's awareness of pattern in music by listening to different kinds of music, sharing songs and playing rhythm games.
* Children's songs often have repeated rhythms and rhymes, and singing them frequently will increase children's concentration and memory. New words are easier to learn and retain when they are contained within a rhyming pattern.
* Organise music sessions that explore rhythm (see Music Box, page 17).
PROJECT GUIDE
An awareness of pattern is fundamental to a child's learning in the early years. The early learning goal relating to pattern - 'talk about, recognise and recreate simple patterns' - falls within mathematical development, but pattern permeates the whole early years curriculum,as an understanding of pattern strengthens and develops children's knowledge in all six areas of learning.
For example, recognising patterns in nature and the man-made world helps develop children's knowledge and understanding of the world; being aware of pattern in rhyme aids children's language and literacy skills; hearing patterns in music and design enhances children's creative development; regular patterns in everyday routines build security and confidence; patterns in games and dance add to children's physical development.
The activities outlined in this four-part project aim to illustrate thecross-curricular nature of pattern and only the most relevant areas of learning are indicated, although others will apply. The areas of learning are indicated by:
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication,language and literacy
Mathematical development
Knowledge & understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development