🧠 Brain Lab · Reasoning

Patterns in kindergarten to grade 5

Spotting and continuing number, shape and rule patterns. Daily Academy tracks it as its own skill, separately from the 4 others in brain lab, so it can never be averaged away by a subject score.

Check it tonight

Show a pattern: “what’s the rule?” — not “what comes next?”

What to watch for

Extending a sequence correctly and being unable to state the rule. The rule is the part that transfers.

Real patterns questions from the library

7 activities currently target this skill. These are actual questions, shown at the difficulty they are served at, with the explanation a child sees after answering.

Difficulty 0.9 — mid grade 0
Look at this pattern: clap, clap, stamp, clap, clap, stamp.
What is the rule?
Hint shown after a miss: Count the claps before each stamp.
Explanation: Two claps, then a stamp, over and over. Saying the rule out loud is what lets you keep going forever.
Difficulty 1.4 — mid grade 1
What is the rule for this pattern? 🔴🔴🔵 🔴🔴🔵 🔴🔴🔵
Hint shown after a miss: Count the reds before each blue.
Explanation: Two reds, then a blue, over and over. Saying the rule out loud is the part that lets you carry on for as long as you like.
Difficulty 1.4 — mid grade 1
Which of these does NOT repeat in a pattern?
Hint shown after a miss: Look for a chunk that comes back again.
Explanation: The last one never repeats a chunk. The third one repeats a chunk of just one green, which still counts as a pattern.

The other 4 skills in Brain Lab

Each one is estimated separately, which is what lets the parent dashboard name a specific gap rather than report a subject average.

ClassificationSort four things by an unstated rule and ask which one does not belong — and why.Spatial Reasoning“If you turn this shape a quarter turn, what does it look like?”DeductionGive two clues about three things and ask what must be true.StrategyIn any game: “what are you going to do after that?”

Common questions

How do I know if my child has patterns secure?

Show a pattern: “what’s the rule?” — not “what comes next?” Extending a sequence correctly and being unable to state the rule. The rule is the part that transfers.

Which grade is patterns taught in?

It appears in both. Daily Academy does not gate skills by year group — a child is placed on a continuous difficulty scale during a five-minute intake, and patterns is then served at whatever level they are actually at, adjusted separately from every other skill.

Practice by grade

Grade 2 critical thinking and logic activitiesLogic puzzles for 7 and 8 year olds — patterns, deduction, sorting and spatial reasoning — set at the right difficulty and framed as a game rather than a test.Grade 3 critical thinking and logic activitiesLogic and reasoning practice for 8 and 9 year olds — multi-step patterns, elimination puzzles, spatial reasoning and strategy — adapted to each child’s level.Grade 1 critical thinking and logic activitiesLogic puzzles for 6 and 7 year olds — sequencing, patterns, sorting and two-clue deduction — kept small enough that they measure reasoning rather than memory.Grade 4 critical thinking and logic activitiesLogic puzzles for 9 and 10 year olds — conditional reasoning, systematic counting, nets and multi-step planning — where the first plausible answer is usually wrong.Grade 5 critical thinking and logic activitiesLogic puzzles for 10 and 11 year olds — elimination, systematic counting, and telling a valid argument from a conclusion that happens to be true.Kindergarten logic and thinking activitiesThinking puzzles for 4 and 5 year olds — odd one out, repeating patterns, first, then, last, and two-clue riddles — short enough to be about reasoning rather than memory.

See where your child stands on patterns

A five-minute intake places them on a continuous scale, and the skill map shows every skill separately from the first week. The daily mission is free.

Start free See the parent dashboard