AAB Pattern with Feelings

On this sheet the pattern goes first, first, second — an AAB pattern — using feelings like happy, sad and surprised faces. The child reads the three-part repeat, where the first picture comes twice, and fills the empty wagons to extend it. Continuing a pattern with a doubled opening element is foundational Kindergarten patterning, the skill of finding and following a rule, with nothing to count.

What makes AAB its own pattern is the front-loaded repeat: the first picture comes as a pair, the second as a single. A child works out the beat and fills the gaps. Practising the doubled-opening rhythm with feelings sharpens a young learner's ear for where a repeat sits inside a unit — at the very start, in this case.

Children who can hear the AAB beat — the lead picture twice, then one — get quicker at front-loaded patterns, and cracking the front-loaded rhythm feels good and earns a careful ear its reward. When this feels easy, try the pattern in aab pattern with farm animals, or aab pattern with furniture. You can also browse every pattern worksheet or the whole kindergarten collection — each sheet prints cleanly or plays online for free, and once the doubled-lead beat is easy, a child is ready for ABB, where it is the second picture that doubles instead — the mirror image of this one.