This festive gumdrop patterns activity sheet stretches students to create patterns of their own. AB, ABB, ABC patterns… they’re all there!

The no-prep activity is easy to differentiate making it perfect for preschoolers, second graders, and every age in between!  For more pre-K fun, check out our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep this patterns activity, I printed one copy of the record sheet for each child.

Since my kids were familiar with patterns, I wanted to stretch them a little bit further. So, I printed the second version of the page on the back so that they’d also have the chance to design their own patterns from scratch.

I grabbed our stash of crayons and we were ready to start.

Note: This would be a fun opportunity to build patterns with hands-on manipulatives! Just give each small group a box of gumdrops and let them create.

Gumdrop Patterns Activity

We’ve talked a lot about patterns but I wanted to do a quick review before diving in feet first.

First, we talked about how patterns repeat.

Then, I wrote down the letters AB and we used our bodies to act out a couple of simple AB action patterns:

stomp – clap – stomp – clap

tap – hop – tap – hop

I pointed back and forth between the A and the B as we switched our movements so that the kids could easily see that the pattern continued repeating. The letters were merely symbols for showing how many times we did the first thing and then the second.

After a few more examples, I wrote down a new letter combination: ABB.

We worked together to come up with a couple of action patterns that fit:

clap – clap – jump – clap – clap – jump

nod – nod – squat – nod – nod – squat

We acted out several more types of patterns and then I handed over the coloring sheet for them to complete.

Since the kids could use any color combinations that fit, there were countless possibilities.

For instance, my son made a red-blue AB pattern…

While my daughter decided to color hers yellow-green.

After completing the first side, it was time to stretch their thinking on the back. My kids wrote a pattern in the blank spot on the left and then colored a matching combination.

It was such an easy extension activity!

Grab Your Set

Ready to play? Click the big blue download button at the bottom of this post and then hop to our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop for more centers your kids will love!