Easter Pattern Activities for Preschoolers

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One of the math skills that preschoolers should develop is recognizing and completing patterns. Patterns are everywhere: in words, music, routines, mathematical operations, and even nature. With this in mind, I designed three different pattern activities for you and your preschoolers. These activities include completing patterns, copying patterns, and creating patterns. Combining them will cover the various developmental stages that your children might have, and they will also help you in your lesson planning to provide this vital activity to your kiddos during Easter week (or month). They are all free; you can download them by just clicking on the bottom provided for each, below.

Importance of Patterns

Learning patterns will give preschoolers the foundation to make connections, predict what will happen, and set the base to understand numbers and mathematical operations in the future.

There are different stages in a child’s patterning development. It doesn’t matter how hard you try; a child cannot move from recognizing a pattern to creating one. He or she has to move from one stage of development to the next. The normal patterning development in a child is as follows:

Stage 1: The child will recognize a pattern
Stage 2: The child will describe a pattern
Stage 3: The child will be able to copy a pattern
Stage 4: The child can continue and extend a pattern.
Stage 5: The child can create his/her pattern.

To help your children develop all the stages they need for a good Math foundation, you must provide opportunities allowing your preschoolers to do all kinds of daily patterns. Creating a pattern could be as simple as clapping to a rhythm, making movements, or using objects in different colors, shapes, and sizes.

Easter Pattern Activities

These hands-on activities can be used as a small group activity, a Math center option, a take-home game, or a Quiet area option, and can be prepared easily and fast. You will only need a handful of materials which are:

Easter Complete the Pattern Activity

Print out each page on white cardstock and give one to each child. Instruct them to cut out the squares at the bottom of each page and glue them in the appropriate spot to complete the patterns.

You can also separate the strips (I suggest including the blank square at the end of each strip) and the small squares at the bottom with the pictures. After that, you can put the strips and small squares in a little basket or a Ziploc bag and give them to the children to match. This second option is a little more complicated; therefore, consider the developmental stages of each of your children.

If you want to use these strips multiple times, I suggest printing and laminating them. Cut the squares and keep the rest of the page intact, to allow the children to complete the patterns using the cut-out squares.

Easter Copy the Pattern Activity

Print each page on white cardstock, cut out the strips and the objects, and laminate them. Print as many copies of the pages as you need. Instruct the children to use the cut-out objects to copy the patterns in each strip.

To extend the activity have the children use other manipulatives in the same colors of the objects to match them or have them use plastic eggs to copy the patterns.

Easter Create Patterns Activity

This activity is pretty, fun, and easy to put together. Print out the pattern mats and the egg pages on white cardstock and laminate them. them. Let each child select the pattern mat he or she wants to use. Instruct the child to use the cut-out eggs to create patterns on top.

To extend the activity have the children use other manipulatives such as colorful mini bunnies, pom-poms, buttons, etc., to create patterns on top of the pattern mats.

Books About Patterns

As usual, no matter what I do, I always use books to introduce the theme and support my teaching. These are some of my favorite books about patterns for preschoolers. You can find them at your local library, used bookstore, and on Amazon. If you want to purchase some of them, click on the titles, and my affiliate links will bring you directly to the page.

Pattern Fish (Math is Fun) by Trudy Harris discusses how patterns are found in math, reading, science, music, art, dance, poetry, and the world around us.

Pattern Bugs (Math is Fun) by Trudy Harris. Children will love the humor and predictability of this story, and teachers and parents alike will appreciate the pattern hunt, which will keep kids coming back to the book, looking for more patterns.

Lots and Lots of Zebra Stripes by Stephen R. Swinburne. With simple text and vivid full-color photographs, this book shows children a wide range of nature’s exquisite designs. He invites children to open their eyes and look for patterns in water and on land, in the air and on the ground, and in their neighborhoods. They will see the world as they’ve never seen it before.

A-B-A-B-A―a Book of Pattern Play (Math Is CATegorical ®) by Brian P. Cleary. In this playful look at patterns, the author provides many examples of repeating sequences of shapes, colors, and objects and how patterns can be found around us. Peppy rhymes, goofy illustrations, and kid-friendly examples make pattern practice fun!

Pin It for Later

If you don’t have time to read the post and download the printable but want to save it for later, pin this to your literacy or Easter board on Pinterest, and it will be available when you need it.

I hope you find these activities and printables will help you have a successful Easter month of learning and entertainment in your preschool classroom, and since St. Patrick’s Day is coming up soon, please check the FREE St. Patrick’s Day activities I also created with you in mind, at the end of this post.

Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.

Love,