What Is a Pattern?
Look at your shirt. Do you see stripes? Spots? Stars that repeat? That is a pattern! Patterns are hiding everywhere — in your clothes, in songs, in the sky, and even in time. Today we are going to become pattern detectives and find them.
A Pattern Is Something That Repeats
A pattern is something that repeats or follows a rule. That rule tells you what comes next. Here are some everyday patterns: Stripes on a shirt: red, blue, red, blue, red, blue. The colors keep going in the same order. Day and night: daytime comes, then nighttime, then daytime again, over and over. Clapping a beat: clap, clap, pause, clap, clap, pause. You can feel the pattern. When something repeats the same way again and again, that is a pattern!
A pattern is anything that repeats or follows a rule. Once you know the rule, you can predict what comes next!
Let's try one. Look at this pattern: circle, square, circle, square, circle, ___. What shape goes in the blank? A square! You figured it out because you spotted the rule: circle then square, over and over. That is exactly how AI thinks too. AI looks at things that have happened before, finds the repeating rule, and then guesses what will happen next. You are already thinking like an AI!
Match each pattern to the rule that makes it repeat.
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Patterns can be made of colors, shapes, sounds, numbers, or even actions. As long as there is a rule that repeats, you have a pattern. The more you practice looking, the faster you will spot them.
When you think you see a pattern, ask yourself: 'What is the rule?' If you can say the rule out loud, you found the pattern!
Which of these is a pattern?
You see: star, moon, star, moon, star, ___. What comes next?
Pattern Hunt at Home
- Grab a piece of paper and a pencil.
- Walk around your home or look around your room.
- Find three patterns — on fabric, tiles, wallpaper, or anywhere else.
- Draw each one. Under each drawing, write the rule in your own words.
- Share your patterns with a family member and see if they can guess the rule before they read it.