Patterns with beads

Threading beads is a great activity that will keep children as young as toddlers happily entertained. We have these wooden beads which both children love to play with. D loves to make necklaces and bracelets and R, at 25 months old, is just satisfied to get a few beads on the string!

We often use pipe cleaners to thread the beads onto rather than the laces that come with the set as this is easier for younger children to achieve. Today I decided to use the beads to make a pattern matching activity. I put rows of beads on pipe cleaners, and then invited D to replicate the pattern on another pipe cleaner.

Copying a patterns is a great way of introducing children to early maths skills. It helps them to recognise order in the world and is the basis of later skills such as multiplication.