Pattern blocks are colored wooden or plastic shapes that preschoolers can use to arrange on the floor. Start by making a pattern at the front of the room by putting blocks of certain shapes and colors in a specific order. For example, arrange a pattern of red square, blue triangle, blue triangle, yellow circle. Have students copy the pattern with their own blocks. Take turns having students come to the front of the room and make a new pattern for the entire class to copy.
Pattern can also be merely a matter of colors. Make work sheets that contain two identical rows of stars, one at the top of the page and one at the bottom. Break the class into pairs. Have each students use crayons to color the top row of stars however they see fit. Once they are finished, have students trade sheets and complete the bottom row of stars by imitating the pattern in the top row.
Patterns also appear in speech and rhythm, and are just as important to teach. Engage your students in a rhythm-response activity. Have your students sit in a circle. Clap out a rhythmical pattern with your hands. Have students clap the identical pattern back. Move from simpler patterns to more complex and longer ones. For a variation on this activity, clap out a pattern and go around the circle, having each student imitate the pattern one at a time.
Using actions can be a useful and fun way to teach patterns. One simple thing you can do is to make students sort themselves in different ways as they line up at the door each day. Have line up alternating boy-girl-boy-girl. Or, let them group themselves according to the color of their shirts or jackets. For a different pattern activity, play a variation of "Simon Says," where the leader mimes a series of gestures and the players must copy them exactly.