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This post has been co-written with Ben Wolfson, a full-time educator and assistant principal in the USA.
Kindergarten students will love these fun pattern activities with a unique transportation theme! Using a choice board of three different colored cars, students will master the skill of continuing an ABAB pattern in no time at all, and the cute vehicles will keep them coming back for more.
Setting Up Your Kindergarten Math Center
Using these fun patterns activities is super easy! You’ll just need to print a full set of the car patterns in full color (all the cars are the same design and will look almost identical in black and white!). Students can then use a clip or a pencil to mark their answers for you to check. If you have multiple students or want to revisit the task multiple times to improve accuracy, you need to laminate the pages. Students can then use dry erase markers to show their work, and the pages will last a lot longer in your classroom.
This math patterning activity for kindergarten is already formatted to print on a whole sheet of paper. You can of course print two to a page or print double sided to save on ink and paper but be careful of going too small as the students will struggle more with seeing the patterns.
For this activity you will need:
Paper
Printer
Writing tools or wooden clips
Optional: laminator and dry erase markers
If you don’t have the materials needed, don’t sweat! You can get it delivered to your doorstep really quickly with Amazon Prime. You can get a 30-day free trial here.
Why Is Teaching the ABAB Pattern Important?
Patterning for kindergarten is a multi-purpose skill. Firstly, it helps teach them forward thinking by asking them to imagine objects that aren’t there. Secondly, it will help them with number counting as there are many patterns all throughout the 100 square chart. Finally, it helps them think logically; to make sense of what they know already and use it to make predictions for the future. These race cars make this the perfect math patterning activity for kindergarten!
Pattern Teaching Ideas
Coming up with your own pattern teaching ideas can be hard, which is where having something like this transportation theme packet means you have a ready-made kindergarten math center at your fingertips. The concept is easy for a student to work on either independently or with a teacher; they need to look at the ABAB pattern at the top of the page and then select which of three cars below would continue the pattern. However, there are many ways you can differentiate the activity:
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To simplify the task, you can remove one of the options so that the student only has two possible options. In this case you should remove the color that isn’t present in the original pattern to keep a sufficient level of challenge and learning
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To check for accuracy, ask a student to explain their thinking out loud to you. This prevents them from lucky guesses, though if they’ve got more than 5 correct in a row, you can be fairly certain that they’ve mastered the skill.
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To extend the task, have them create their own ABAB patterns for a partner to work on. Make sure that they develop an answer key so that you know that they’re not doing it randomly!
For a final challenge, you could have students cut up multiple pages and create patterns that include three colors in the original patterns, or that only use two colors in a different way (AABB for example).
This game is also available as digital Boom Cards which can be used with Seesaw, Google Classroom and other distance learning platforms. Grab these Internet task cards here.
Like this? Then you’ll love my 10 Transportation Themed Literacy and Math Centers. These easy-prep games will get your students working on letters, phonics, numbers and more!
Games included:
1) Number Writing Mats – 1 to 20 included; Kids will trace the numbers as well as the number word. The number of vehicle images shown on the mats corresponds to the number so these can also be used for counting.
2) Hot Air Balloon Which Is More Clip Cards – 15 comparison sets for numbers 1 to 10; Place a wooden peg or clothespin on the picture with more hot air balloons.
3) Monster Truck Roll and Graph – Graphing sheet for 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 provided together with a special printable dice; Print out, cut, and form the dice. Ask your child to roll it and graph the result to see which monster truck will win the race.
4) Colorful Convertible Memory Match – 9 color pairs included; Turn over the cards 2 at a time trying to find the matching pair by memory.
5) Number Puzzle Strips – 6 different puzzles included for numbers 1-10 (2 designs), 11-20 (2 designs), counting by 2s up to 20, and counting by 10s up to 100.
6) Alphabet Bus Stop – Match the correct letter wheels to the bus according to the object shown on the beginning sound bus stop sign.
7) Parking Cars Tracing LInes – 12 patterns included for pre-writing practice
8) Train Handwriting Practice – Practice writing upper and lowercase letters
9) Truck Lego Letter Formation – Kids will love building the alphabet using the mats provided
10) Taxi Alphabet Matching – 2-piece puzzles to match up upper and lowercase letters
Check it out for more ready-to-go fun!
Other Free Vehicle Themed Printables:
1) Parking Cars Tracing Lines – More than 10 different tracing line patterns to choose from, all of which help with pencil control.
2) Train Number Writing Practice – Kids will be able to practice their number handwriting skills in this train-themed activity that’s super easy to prep for your transportation learning week!
3) Monster Truck Rhyming Wheels – A fun early literacy activity where your child will pair up the monster truck wheels that have rhyming pictures.
4) Vehicle Shadow Matching – Develop visual discrimination with this fun vehicle-themed worksheet.
5) Construction Counting Mat – This construction-themed counting mat can be used with playdough, Legos or any other small manipulatives you have.
6) Truck Wheel Shape Matching – In this printable preschool shapes activity, they’ll work on early geometry as well as fine motor skills.
Educational Tools For Your Classroom:
Browse My Most Popular Math Printables:
1) Parking Cars Tracing Lines – More than 10 different tracing line patterns to choose from, all of which help with pencil control.
2) Scarecrow Arrange By Size – 3 different scarecrow-themed image sets that they will arrange from smallest to biggest.
3) Bumblebee Addition Game – Solve the sum and help the bee land on the correct flower!
4) Farm Shapes Mats – Use playdough, pompoms, stickers etc to learn 2D shapes.
5) Popsicle Stick Number Formation – Kids will love forming the numbers 1 to 10 when ice cream and popsicles are involved!
6) Valentines Printable Worksheets Pack – 50 pages of mixed literacy and math activities.
7) Zoo Animals Number Puzzle Strips – Complete these cute puzzles and learn the numbers 1 to 20.
8) Counting Colorful Bugs – This printable book will help kids count to 10 while also learning about color words.
9) Humpty Dumpty Numbers – In this printable game, your students will practice number recognition using 1 dice or simple addition when using 2 dice.
10) Build A Number Santa – Match the number to the correct number word, tally mark and domino to form a Santa Claus
