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It's harder than you think

Sophie had great difficulty finding a unit of repeat for a blue-blue-pink train of cubes. This was her first attempt.

Four groups of coloured cubes: a blue-blue pair, a blue-pink pair, a pink-blue-blue group, and another blue-pink pair.

Incorrect units of repeat.

After some help from her teacher and several attempts, she eventually managed to break the pattern into three identical units.

Three groups of blue-blue-pink cubes in the same orientation.

Correct units of repeat.

After several more examples like this, Sophie was able to confidently find a unit of repeat in complex repeating patterns of cubes. She was also able to draw these patterns and create her own repeating patterns using other materials.