AB Pattern with Shapes

On this Kindergarten pattern sheet, shapes repeat two-by-two in an AB pattern — one picture, then another, then the first again — and the child places pictures in the blank wagons to extend it. Reading that two-part repeat and predicting the next picture is early patterning, the core readiness skill of finding and following a rule. Familiar pictures like a circle, a square and a triangle keep the focus on the alternating pattern.

An AB pattern is the first repeating pattern a child meets, and extending it builds the core idea of patterning: a sequence follows a rule, and you can predict what comes next. For Kindergarten that rule-finding is foundational readiness, and doing it with two alternating shapes keeps the practice clear and concrete, with nothing to add up.

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 space, or ab pattern with things that fly. 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.