Spotting patterns is at the heart of computational thinking. When children notice that 🔴 🔵 🔴 🔵 keeps repeating, they are doing exactly what programmers do before writing a loop.
What your child will learn
- Continue repeating patterns of two, three and four items
- Find the missing item in a pattern
- Identify the part of a pattern that repeats
From patterns to loops
Once you can see the repeating part of a pattern, you can describe the whole thing in a few words: “red, blue — again and again”. That is exactly what a loop does in code, and it is why Pattern Park comes before Loop Lagoon.
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. What comes next in the pattern?
- ?
- ❤️
- ☀️
- ⭐
Show answer
Answer: ☀️. The pattern repeats ☀️ ❤️. After ❤️ comes ☀️.
2. What comes next in the pattern?
- ?
- ⭐
- ☁️
- ❤️
Show answer
Answer: ☁️. The pattern repeats ❤️ ☁️. After ❤️ comes ☁️.
3. What comes next in the pattern?
- ?
- 🌙
- ⭐
- ❤️
Show answer
Answer: ❤️. The pattern repeats ❤️ ⭐. After ⭐ comes ❤️.
Tips for grown-ups
- Make patterns with toys, beads or claps and stamps.
- Look for patterns on clothes, tiles and fences.
- Make a pattern with a mistake in it and see if your child can spot the odd one out.