Patterns and rules

Understand the idea, discover playful ways to explore it, and choose an activity that fits your child.

Understand the idea

What this topic means, how adults can support exploration, and what the evidence can—and cannot—tell us.

Explore original patterns and rules activities. Choose an age range and a comfortable variation, using household materials or optional printables.

Put the idea into play

Explore activity previews connected to this topic. Open a card for the exact age range, purpose, materials and planned access options. Three free samples are ready to try; paid editions are being prepared. Choose by readiness and interest as well as age.

Ages 7–

Discover My Sorting Rule

A curious collection is waiting for an explanation that can stand up to a new example. Explore possible patterns, share a reason and discover why checking an idea is useful. The activity invites thoughtful guessing and revision without treating the fastest answer as the most interesting part of the game. Try a version that suits today, with four optional approaches and a grown-up sharing the discovery.

Ages 7–

Message in a Picture Code

A small picture-code adventure gives clear messages a playful purpose. Explore symbols, sequence and the difference between what a message says and what you expected. The visible key keeps useful information available, so children can check and repair an idea with a partner instead of having to memorise the code. Four optional ways to play let you choose a comfortable challenge and change it together.

Ages 3–

Pattern Train

All aboard a picture train with room for your own ideas. Explore what belongs together, notice a repeating arrangement and explain a choice through words or pointing. This small tabletop adventure gives children and grown-ups a reason to look closely and create something together. Try a version that suits today, with four optional approaches and a grown-up sharing the discovery.

Ages 7–

The Pattern Machine

What could be happening inside this imaginary machine? Explore a playful puzzle where ideas can be tested, checked and changed. The activity offers practice in explaining a possible rule and noticing what an example does or does not tell you. Choose number or picture challenges that feel familiar, with four optional ways to take part.

Ages 7–

Two Rules Can Overlap

A picture does not always have to belong in just one place. Explore interesting relationships between categories, explain a decision and consider examples that challenge a first assumption. The activity invites flexible reasoning with visible materials, making it possible to check an idea without needing abstract definitions at the start. Four flexible variations offer a gentle starting point and another possibility whenever your child wants one.

Ages 4–

Under the Picnic Cloth

A small picnic mystery offers a gentle invitation to remember and check. Familiar pictures keep the situation approachable while children explore a little group and consider what they have noticed. Looking again is welcome, and the activity can stay at a comfortable size rather than becoming a memory score. Four flexible variations offer a gentle starting point and another possibility whenever your child wants one.

The thinking behind the play

Practical guides and source notes connected to this topic. Research informs our design; these papers are not trials of our products.

Our related reading for this topic is being prepared. Visit Research & guides for the wider context.

Patterns and rules

Understand the idea

Put the idea into play

Discover My Sorting Rule

Message in a Picture Code

Pattern Train

The Pattern Machine

Two Rules Can Overlap

Under the Picnic Cloth

The thinking behind the play

Follow your child’s next curiosity