Patterns and sorting

Sorting means putting things into groups that share something, like the same colour, shape or size. A repeating pattern has a part that repeats again and again, so you can work out what comes next.

Key facts

  • Sort by one rule at a time: colour, shape, size or number.
  • Find the part of a pattern that repeats (the unit).
  • Say the pattern out loud to hear it repeat: red, blue, red, blue…

Worked examples

Example 1

What comes next? 🔴 🔵 🔵 🔴 🔵 🔵 🔴 …

  1. The part that repeats is 🔴 🔵 🔵.
  2. After 🔴 comes 🔵.

Answer: 🔵

Example 2

Sort these into two groups: 🍎 🚗 🍌 🚌 🍇 🚲

  1. 🍎 🍌 🍇 are all fruit.
  2. 🚗 🚌 🚲 are all ways to travel.
  3. So the two groups are fruit and vehicles.

Answer: Fruit and vehicles