AB Pattern with Flowers

What comes next in the pattern? On this sheet a row of flowers repeats in an AB rhythm — one picture, then a second, then back to the first — and the child fills the empty wagons to keep the pattern going. Seeing that two pictures alternate and predicting the next is the heart of early patterning, the thinking skill of finding and extending a rule. The familiar pictures keep the focus on the repeat.

The value of an AB pattern is its clarity: two pictures, one simple rule, endlessly extendable. A Kindergarten child practises finding the rule and carrying it forward — the heart of patterning — and the familiar flowers keep the focus on the rhythm rather than on figuring out the pictures.

Children who get the hang of the AB back-and-forth start predicting the next picture at a glance, and finishing a clean alternating train feels satisfying, a small and clear early win. When this feels easy, try the pattern in ab pattern with forest creatures, or ab pattern with insects and bugs. You can also browse every pattern worksheet or the whole kindergarten collection — each sheet prints cleanly or plays online for free, and the more two-part patterns a child completes, the readier they are for patterns where a picture starts to double — the natural next step up the ladder.