Jack’s Pattern Path

Jack wants a path for his toy rabbit. Mum brings big red and blue squares. “Let’s make a path that repeats,” she says.

Jack puts down a red square, then a blue square. He says the colours as he points. “Red, blue.” The rabbit waits beside the path.

He adds red, then blue again. Now the path says red, blue, red, blue. “The same little bit comes again,” says Mum.

Jack adds another red square. There is a space at the end. He reaches for a red one, then stops. “What comes next?” asks Mum.

They point from the start. “Red, blue. Red, blue. Red...” Jack looks at the spare blue square. “Blue next!” he says.

Jack puts blue into the space. Now his path goes red, blue, red, blue, red, blue. Mum and Jack say the pattern together.

The toy rabbit hops along. Jack points to each square as the rabbit moves. “Red, blue,” he says again. He leaves every square in its place.

The rabbit reaches the end of the repeating path. “I knew what came next,” says Jack. Mum smiles. They wonder how to make the path a little longer.