AB Pattern with Musical Instruments

What comes next in the pattern? On this sheet a row of instruments 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.

Recognizing that two pictures alternate, then continuing the rhythm, trains a child to spot order and regularity in what they see. That is genuine Kindergarten readiness, the patterning skill that supports so much early learning, and a simple AB repeat of instruments makes it approachable. There is nothing to count — just the rule to find and follow.

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 community helpers, or ab pattern with reptiles and amphibians. 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.