Pattern activity - blank coloured name cards

At last Saturday's music class, the teacher showed us the blank coloured name cards that he bought from Carrefour. He suggested we get them too for our kids (to make patterns) as it's very useful and handy.

I happen to be in Desa Parkcity's Max Value (Jusco) supermarket walking down the aisle and spotted the very same stack of cards! So now you know it's also available there.

We had lunch after getting some groceries. After feeding him, I brought out the cards to occupy him while it was my turn to eat. This was one of the patterns I made with the cards, and had him repeat it. It has 5 colours but made up of 7 cards (2 colours repeated). This was the first time I tried 7 items with him. He could repeat the pattern. But given his fine motor impairment, I allowed him to use his words to request the colour he wanted instead of pick it out from the case.

 

This was one of the patterns we played with when we got home. I wanted to try something different, not just the usual linear patterns. He had a lot of difficulty with this when I asked him to build the pattern from scratch. Perhaps because it's non linear. Perhaps because it requires spatial awareness. So I did the second flower myself. The third I completed by myself except for the centre red card (intentional). He spotted it was missing (visual discrimination) and told me so. The fourth flower, I completed it except for two missing petals, for which he correctly placed the cards. The fifth flower, I started off with the purple petal, and asked him what comes next until the entire flower was completed.

 

I turned the tidying up of the cards into another activity with him. He was to sort all the cards there into groups by colour alternating the use of his left and right hands, and also trying to do it with the palm open. Then we counted them as he passed them to me to keep in the box (maths).

 

When keeping each colour group, I had him compete with me to see who could collect the most cards (to quicken his reflexes). Then I had him count and compare who had more, who had less (maths). After a few rounds of that, I changed it to an addition activity (my cards + his cards = how many cards).

Very useful cards indeed! Thanks for suggesting it! I've got a few more maths ideas on its use, and am already thinking of getting another box of it.