Play with Patterns - Growing and Repeating Patterns

A Pattern is a sequence of numbers, shapes, or objects that follow a specific rule. For example, a floor made of alternating black and white square tiles creates a visual pattern because the arrangement repeats predictably.

Repeating Patterns are sequences where a specific set of elements, called the 'pattern unit', repeats over and over. For instance, in the sequence $\bigcirc, \triangle, \square, \bigcirc, \triangle, \square$, the unit of repeat is the group of three shapes: $(\bigcirc, \triangle, \square)$.

Growing Patterns are sequences that do not repeat the same unit but instead increase or decrease by a fixed amount at each step. Visually, this looks like a staircase: the first step has $1$ block, the second has $2$ blocks, the third has $3$ blocks, and so on, following the rule $+1$.

Number Patterns involve skip counting where we add or subtract a fixed number to find the next term. In the pattern $5, 10, 15, 20$, each number is found by adding $5$ to the previous one, which is skip counting by $5$s.

Decreasing Patterns are a type of growing pattern where the values get smaller. For example, $50, 40, 30, 20$ is a pattern where we subtract $10$ at each step. Visually, this could be represented by a tower of blocks getting shorter by one level each time.

Alphabetical Patterns use the order of letters to create sequences. A pattern like $AZ, BY, CX$ involves taking the first letter from the start of the alphabet and the last letter from the end, moving inward one step at a time.

Patterns in Nature and Shapes can be found in things like the petals of a flower, the stripes on a zebra, or even a spider web. These patterns often use symmetry, where one side of a shape or design is a mirror image of the other side.