While many manipulatives I write about have not been used before by most of my students, traditional pattern blocks are pretty ubiquitous in preschool and early elementary classrooms. However, many teachers don’t know about the pattern block variations and additions that they can also use, and the many concepts these support even in the upper grades.
Traditional Pattern Blocks
Traditional pattern blocks were developed in the sixties to include six shapes:
- Green equilateral triangle
- Blue rhombus
- Beige narrow rhombus
- Red trapezoid
- Yellow regular hexagon
- Orange square
These shapes are designed so the sides are all the same length (1 inch) with the exception of the trapezoid, which has 1 side that is twice as long.
You can buy them as wooden or plastic blocks, print from free templates online, and play with virtual versions on many websites.
These shapes are used to create patterns and designs. They are very useful in the classroom for teaching growing patterns, attributes of shapes, congruence, symmetry, perimeter and area, fractions, and other concepts. You can buy them as wooden or plastic blocks, print from free templates online, and play with virtual versions on many websites. Here are some great lessons for grades 3-5 using traditional pattern blocks to teach fractions, symmetry, and angles.
What is less known is that you can now also buy sets of similar blocks with different/additional shapes.
21st Century Pattern Blocks
21st Century Pattern Blocks share the 1 inch side length with traditional pattern blocks so that you can use them with your traditional set. A set of these includes 1 dozen concave hexagons, 1 dozen darts; 1 dozen rhombuses; 2 dozen kites; 2 dozen right triangles; and a short booklet of information, ideas, and challenges.
Polygram Pattern Blocks
You can also buy a polygrams set which includes triangles, squares, parallelograms, semicircles, diamonds, trapezoids, octagons, and arches.
Fractional Pattern Blocks
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