I recently discovered Preschool STEAM’s blog, and it has a ton of great reading and engineering activities on their site. For this week’s Time to Read Tuesday, I chose their pattern block activity that accompanies the book Planting a Rainbow. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. This activity works on all of those topics except for technology.
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Planting a Rainbow has a bunch of different types of flowers in each color of the rainbow. Buddy and I started by reading the book together. We paid attention to the different types of flowers in each color. We discussed the differences in the flowers and picked out favorites on each page.
Once we finished the book, I pulled out a set of pattern blocks. I actually use these in my 7th grade math classroom, but I have a separate set that I use at home with Buddy. They are great for discussing different shapes, colors, and patterns. If you don’t have a set and aren’t interested in buying one through the link above, you can download and print a set for free here. You can also use online pattern blocks here. 
Buddy and I went back through the book, and we made flowers using the pattern blocks. We looked at the colors and shapes we had available, and we used flowers of similar colors in the book. Buddy needed a little help making the flowers. However, he was very interested in the process of getting the shapes to fit together in a way to make it look like a flower. 
This was a fun activity with no set up time. Buddy and I both enjoyed it, and I’m sure we’ll play with the pattern blocks again soon.
