Activity: Popsicle patterns

Activity: Popsicle patterns

Materials:
Popsicle sticks, two contrasting colors of paint, paintbrush, newspaper

Time:
30 minutes plus drying time

Skills:
Recognizing patterns

Here is an activity that works on pattern recognition. Start out by spreading out newspaper to protect the furniture. Divide a group of popsicle sticks in half and paint the sticks two different colors, such as yellow and green. You can paint them yourself or recruit your child to help. Once the sticks have dried, begin to arrange them in a pattern, such as green-green-yellow, and ask your child to continue the sequence: green-green-yellow, green-green-yellow. Once she has mastered one pattern, create another and repeat.