Working With Pattern Blocks

Above are traditional wooden versions of Pattern Blocks. There are educational, toy companies that now manufacture
Pattern Blocks in plastic. If you can not afford either of these, you may cut out your own templates from paper.

        Pattern Blocks are one of the mathematical manipulatives developed in the 1960s by an Education Development Center as part of their Elementary Science Study project. They allow children to see how shapes can be decomposed into other shapes, and introduce children to ideas of tilings.

The Pattern Blocks includes multiple copies of six shapes in the following colors:

• Equilateral triangles are green. In geometry, an equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides are equal. In the familiar Euclidean geometry, equilateral triangles are also equiangular; that is, all three internal angles are also congruent to each other and are each 60°. They are regular polygons, and can therefore also be referred to as regular triangles.
• Rhombus tiles that can be matched with two of the green triangles are blue. In Euclidean geometry, a rhombus(◊) (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a simple (non-self-intersecting) quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhombus is often called a diamond, after the diamonds suit in playing cards which resembles the projection of an octahedral diamond, or a lozenge, though the former sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 60° angle (see Polyiamond), and the latter sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 45° angle. Every rhombus is a parallelogram and a kite. A rhombus with right angles is a square.
• Trapezoid that can be matched with three of the green triangles are red. In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid (/ˈtræpəzɔɪd/) in American and Canadian English but as a trapezium (/trəˈpiːziəm/) in English outside North America. The parallel sides are called the bases of the trapezoid and the other two sides are called the legs or the lateral sides (if they are not parallel; otherwise there are two pairs of bases).
• Hexagon that can be matched with six of the green triangles are yellow. In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek ἕξ hex, "six" and γωνία, gonía, "corner, angle") is a six sided polygon or 6-gon. The total of the internal angles of any hexagon is 720°
• Squares with the same side-length as the green triangle are orange. In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, or (100-gradian angles or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle in which two adjacent sides have equal length.
• Narrow rhombus with a 30° angle and the same side-length as the green triangle are white or beige.

       My patterns come with both questions and activities so that classroom teachers or homeschooling parents may use either a lap top or a desk-top computer center for creating interactive learning experiences for students reading this blog in specific:

1. Set up a learning center using a computer, laptop or tablet with access to https://thriftyscissors.blogspot.com pages only. The content must not be transferred to an alternative web location.
2. Provide a couple of sets of Pattern Blocks for each work space and paper with writing tools as well. 
3. Pick and choose the questions or actions that you want your students to answer or manipulate according to their age/abilities.
4. To enlarge the images, simple click on the image and you will be able to see a larger version on a dark background.

       If your students can not yet read, simply have them configure the same design in front of themselves with Pattern Blocks on a table or desk. Students can do this activity by themselves or in a group at a large table. This activity helps develop Pre-Math Skills: problem solving, patterning, estimation, sense of space, representation (symbolism) and number sense.

• Back to the Crafty Math Index Page

Manipulate More Shapes Using Pattern Block Games:

• Manipulate pattern blocks in order to form larger, simple shapes. (level one) and check your answers here.
• Manipulate pattern blocks to make geometric puzzles. (level two) and check your answers here.
  

Repeat Patterns Using Pattern Blocks:

• Repeating Patterns: Set One
• Repeating Patterns: Set Two
• Repeating Patterns: Set Three
  

Try My Figurative Designs For Pattern Blocks: Plus questions and activities...

1. two kissing fish
2. flower garden
3. a super hero shield
4. a scarecrow
5. the court jester 
6. a simple Christmas tree
7. a Christmas tree with a star
8. a red bird pull toy
9. hot air balloon
10. a red stocking with a green patch
11. a Christmas wreath
12. St. Nickolas
13. baby Jesus in a manger
14. poinsettia in a planter
15. a praying angel
16. a soccer ball
17. a cluster of grapes
18. a water lily
19. a big fish
20. a trapped trapezoid
21. a flowering triangle

       The photographs located here are the copyrighted property of kathy grimm. Do not upload them onto your personal blogs or webpages for this reason. Give a link to the collection only, if you are referencing the collection.
       Also, do not alter the photographs in any way. Altering photos from this web journal will get you into a heap of trouble with the law. These photos are not included here for the purpose of creating a new collection or a duplicate one on an alternative web site. Copyrighted works must be altered in such a way as to render them "unrecognizable content" in order for the material to be reproduced without censure. In other words, you must make your own unique content from the very beginning, in order to keep copyright law.
       Educators, parents, and social workers from any country may use the photographs for hard copy within the context of a classroom environment only. The photographs should never be reproduced for sale. I have not authorized any person to charge money for profits from these photographs. They are intended for children to learn from freely but not for republishing on third party websites or printing out to sell for monetary gain!
 

More Pattern Block Templates, Mats, and Designs:

• Jessica's Patterns - printable designs
• Colorful Snowflake Designs
• Playing and Learning with Pattern Blocks

Research more about the history of Pattern Blocks:

• Three Labs by Henri Picciotto
  About the Importance of Math Manipulatives 

Where to purchase Pattern Blocks:

• Amazon sells sets (250) of wooden Pattern Blocks
• Lakeshore learning sells plastic Pattern Blocks
• Melissa & Doug have a cute set of pattern blocks that come inside a wooden puzzle set