Nursery World - Enabling Environments: Collections

In the second instalment of a two-part series on pattern, Nicole Weinstein looks at language, movement and sound - and suggests some resources for assisting exploration and learning.

Pattern surrounds us, and the human mind actively seeks it out to help us make sense of the world. Pattern is central to mathematics, nature and our understanding of time; it is evident in our behaviour and the built environment (see more information column). And it is central to movement and language.

Children pick up on the rhythmic patterns of their mother's speech when they are in the womb. Practitioners can foster children's interest in sound and movement patterns long before the child is old enough to communicate verbally by highlighting patterns in stories, in music and verse and through the rhythms of speech during conversations.

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