Patterning and a Heart Hunt

We didn't just do crafts to get ready for Valentine's Day... 

I've noticed other blogs with toddler's doing patterns. I've never once tried to explain what a pattern is to Henry. Things like that don't cross my mind unless someone points it out to me.

I ran across this super cute printables at Pre-Kinders and thought I'd give it a try. There's simple ABAB patterns and more difficult ones like ABBABB or AABBAABB.

We only did an ABAB pattern and had difficulty with that.

 I did most of the patterning you see in the pictures.

I don't see it as a loss for the activity - just something I now know that Henry doesn't yet know.

  

I can think of lots of everyday things 

to point out patterns:

shirts

rugs / blankets

The Cat in the Hat (his hat)

... and so on...

Remember the Valentine Countdown Tree?

Henry's been taking a heart off the tree each day.

Today I decided to do a heart hunt with those.

During Henry's nap quiet alone time, 

I hid the hearts around the toy room and living room.

I didn't so much as hide them, 

but tape them up in obvious places that he can plainly see.

But he had to still look for them.

Henry had a blast searching for these. 

I numbered an egg carton to 9 (we're only to day 9 today...)

(Edited to add: Wow, just realized today is the 10th. Completely just lost a day!)

When he found one, 

he put it in the correct spot in the egg carton.

I'm going to continue to hide the hearts each day until Valentine's Day, 

adding the latest heart we took off the tree.

- Henry is about 34 months -