What Comes Next shows a row of shapes that repeats: circle, triangle, circle, triangle, circle, triangle... and then a question mark. Your child decides what goes in the gap.
What your child is learning
Spotting patterns is a mathematical habit of mind. It sits behind counting in steps, times tables, odd and even numbers and, much later, algebra. Children who are good at seeing "what repeats" tend to find maths easier.
Four kinds of pattern appear. The simplest swaps between two shapes: A B A B. Two others repeat one of the shapes: A A B, and A B B. The fourth uses three different shapes: A B C. The harder ones need your child to find where the repeating part begins and ends.
Each shape always has its own colour, a pink circle, a yellow triangle, a blue square and a white star, so the pattern can be followed by shape, by colour or by both.
How to help
Read the row aloud like a chant: "circle, triangle, circle, triangle..." Leave a pause at the end. The rhythm often gives the answer away.
Clap or tap it. One clap for a circle, a knee slap for a triangle.
Find the part that repeats. Ask, "Where does it start again?" For A A B, the chunk is three shapes long.
If your child chooses whichever shape came last, they are copying, not continuing. Go back to the chant.
Taking it further
Make patterns with real things: red brick, blue brick, red brick. Thread beads. Lay out forks and spoons.
Ask your child to make a pattern for you to continue, then make a deliberate mistake.
Look for patterns on clothes, wallpaper and tiles.
It is a thinking game with almost no reading, which makes it one of the more independent HTML5 games for this age.