Funny patterns

 

Patterns can be found everywhere in nature, from the veins in a leaf to the skin of a lizard. Patterns also play an important role in fashion and clothing design. This activity allows your child to practice inventing her own patterns while creating a portrait of a pet. This pet could be based on an actual family pet, or it can be a completely fictitious animal your child would enjoy cuddling with.

What You Do:

Help your child draw the outline of her pet using a pencil. Make sure she keeps the details to a minimum. Encourage her to draw the outline of the pet as large as possible so that it fills the page.

Help her to trace the pencil outline with a marker so it's easy to see.

Section off parts of the pet using a marker. We drew horizontal stripes across our animal, leaving a couple of inches between the lines.

See how many patterns she can name. Some of them may be: zig-zags, polka dots, plaid, stripes, argyle, diamonds and geometric.

Ask your child to design a different pattern for each section of her pet. She can use as many colors as she likes, but each section must be completely unique. 

When she finishes, hang up her patterned pet portrait for family and friends to enjoy!