Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Patterns

Hi All,

I'm looking for resources regarding patterns. DS7 loves them. We've done what I've been able to find for number patterns re Singapore Math, and he's looked through Fibonacci and the Golden Ratio. Are there resources and activities that anyone can recommend for more patterns? Or even fun activities involving Fibonacci or any of these? He loves The Number Devil and has read it many times since he was 5.

So far, I'm thinking number patterns. Are there some visual sorts as well that can be tied in to puzzles?

Apologies for being non-specific as I'm not sure what to ask for.

TIA!

My pattern-oriented kids have loved pattern blocks, those wooden or plastic colored shapes. Here are some samples: http://www.learningresources.com/p2...blocks&sortby=bestSellers&page=1

They're good for art as well as math.

My two kids are also really good at finding 4-leaf clovers. We have over 100 in our dictionary, and it's not that our yard is gifted. I've looked many times in the same places they're looking and have found exactly zero. It's not exactly a resource, but it's free!

Word searches and mazes were also popular for a while. I'll think about whether they're are others I'm not remembering right now.

I found that gifted math workbooks are filled with these!
There are some good ones at b@rnes & n0ble bookstores that are gifted children math books. That's pretty much the whole book... abstract math puzzles and patterns.

The ones we like are by flashkids or something like that.

Hi, blob,

There's a lot of pretty cool stuff (Escher, tesselations, fractals, paper-folding, puzzles, etc.) at http://mathartfun.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/index.html .

Kriston's right, pattern blocks are very fun! Also pentominoes, tangrams, even geoboards.

Is your little guy crafty at all? There's just nothing like weaving for setting up interesting patterns. We have one of those little funny potholder looms, which has been fun, and I also have a floor loom, and some other little ones (inkle, tapestry, etc.) Card weaving is also fun, and very cheap in terms of equipment. There are a couple of pretty good weaving books for kids out there--I'll get back here with titles ASAP!

A math book my pattern-loving Harpo has really enjoyed over time (it's one you can keep coming back to) is Don Cohen's little calculus for kids book: http://www.mathman.biz/ It's totally about discovering number patterns (it's not very colourful, and the website is a bit zany-looking, but the books themselves are really meaty and interesting).

Hope that helps--

peace
minnie

ETA weaving resources: This first one is my favourite one: Kathleen Monaghan's You Can Weave: Projects for Young Weavers.
http://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Weave-Projects-Weavers/dp/0871924935
This one has a bit trickier projects: Kids Weaving: Projects for Kids of All Ages, by Sarah Swett.
http://www.amazon.ca/Kids-Weaving-Projects-All-Ages/dp/1584794674
I really like Elizabeth Jensen's Small Looms in Action, but it has been out of print for some time, unfortunately; your library may possibly have a copy.
Children's looms: http://www.bountifulspinweave.com/kids_page.htm

For "visual" patterns DS9 loves books by M.C Escher.
http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/minitext/escher/

His official website : http://www.mcescher.com/

DS reads and re-reads the title we have at home "M.C. Escher: The Graphic Work".

Being good at patterns is one of the characteristic of people with a high natural intelligence? gardners 7 intelligences. There are many patterns found in nature with repetition. If he has an interest archetecture also is full of patterns. This could go into Knex or erector type sets. There are activities on why bridges work due to patterens

Tks all for the wealth of information!!

Come to think of it, I do have some tessellation stuff that I put away and will dig out again. The Learning resources ones and the Mathart ones are amazing, as are Escher.

Don Cohen's book sounds great too - DS loves algebra for the "language pattern", so this sounds like something he'd like in the coming years.

DS loves Lego and Knex, but not weaving so far. Actually, I'm the one making the potholders (From Klutz books), and I love it. What a good excuse to look at these - if he doesn't like it, I'll have a go at it myself *grin*.

Maybe these hols, we'll have a look at patterns in nature. Perfect weather for picnic and sketching in the park ...

Tks once again for the great ideas!!

I didn't know there were so many resources. Thanks for great ideas.

I just found a new one:

http://www.tarquinbooks.com/#

mm

Gasp. This one's gem, mm. Tks!!

[Someone stop me from going into a clicking frenzy ...]