Look at this border running along the top of the board: red, blue, red, blue, red, blue. What colour do you think comes next? And here is the tricky part: which little part keeps coming back again and again?

Look at the rows of shapes on the screen. Each pattern has a part that keeps coming back, called the repeating unit. See if you can spot where one unit ends and the next begins.

Let's build some repeating patterns together. I'll call out a unit, like triangle, hexagon, hexagon, and one of you will come up and lay it three times. Then we'll check together that every repeat matches.

Let's work through a few of these together. First we'll continue a two-shape pattern. Then a longer pattern with two squares in it. Next we'll find a shape that is hidden in a gap. And last, we'll work out what the 10th shape would be.

What we learned today

• A repeating pattern is built from a unit that keeps coming back.
• Once you spot the unit, you can continue the pattern and fill any gap.
• Counting in whole units lets you say what sits far along the line.