Number Patterns Teaching Resources

Explore number patterns in your math classes this school year with fun worksheets, number sequence games and more teacher resources created to help your students understand how numbers in a sequence relate to one another.

Aligned with both TEKS and Common Core math standards, the printable and digital activities in this collection were created by the math teachers on the Teach Starter team to help you save time on your lesson plans.

Whether this is your first year teaching about number patterns or you're just looking for a little extra help, we've got you covered. Read on for a primer from our teacher team! We explain what number patterns are so you can share with your class, plus we explore three common patterns.

What Are Number Patterns? A Kid-Friendly Definition

A number pattern is a series of numbers that each follow the same rule. These patterns or sequences can help us find missing numbers or identify what number will come next in a series.

For example, let's say you are given the following list of numbers:

4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24

This is an example of a number pattern in which the next number in the series is 4 more than the previous number. Once you can identify the pattern in a series of numbers like this one, you can then use that pattern to determine what number comes next or even what numbers could have come before the list began.

This is one of the many reasons number patterns are an important part of building students' algebraic reasoning skills. They help students understand how numbers can be related to one another and apply what they know about those relationships to solve problems.

A green bubble features text that reads Teach Starter Teacher Tip Number patterns can also be called number sequences or number series.

3 Common Types of Number Patterns

We can't talk about number patterns without breaking down the different types your students are going to encounter in their math journey!

Linear Patterns

Linear patterns are number patterns in which the numbers increase or decrease by the same amount each time.

The example used above — in which each number in the series increased by a quantity of 4 — is a simple example of a linear pattern.

Geometric Number Patterns

Another type of pattern students may have to contend with is the geometric number pattern. This type involves numbers that are multiplied or divided by a constant factor.

The multiplication table is an example of a geometric number pattern.

Recursive Patterns

Students will have to make full use of their understanding of the four whole number operations to work with recursive patterns. That's because this pattern involves finding each successive number in the sequence by performing a specific operation on the previous number(s).