ABB Pattern with Animals

On this sheet the pattern goes first, second, second — an ABB pattern — using animals like a cat, a sheep and a hen. The child reads the three-part repeat, where the second picture comes twice, and fills the empty wagons to extend it. Continuing a pattern with a doubled trailing element — not a doubled opening one — is foundational Kindergarten patterning, the skill of finding and following the exact rule.

Extending an ABB pattern means recognizing that the trailing element repeats and applying that across the wagons. For a Kindergarten child it builds careful pattern-awareness with familiar animals, keeping the focus on the doubled-second rhythm and on telling it apart from its mirror.

Children who catch the ABB beat — one picture, then a doubled second — get sharper at noticing exactly which picture repeats, and a finished train is satisfying, proof that patient, close looking really pays off. When this feels easy, try the pattern in abb pattern with household things, or abb pattern with birds. You can also browse every pattern worksheet or the whole kindergarten collection — each sheet prints cleanly or plays online for free, and the more doubled-pattern trains a child finishes, the readier they are for longer, four-part patterns that build on these doubled beats, one rung further along.