A number pattern hides a rule, and finding it is early algebra in disguise. These free printable worksheets show a sequence with one number missing and ask the child to work out the rule and fill the gap.
Kid stuck on one? You don’t just get the sheet.
The answer key prints on a separate page.
Each sequence follows a single, constant rule: it grows by a fixed step (2, 4, 6, 8), shrinks by a fixed step (30, 25, 20, 15), or grows by a fixed factor (2, 6, 18, 54). The child compares neighboring terms to spot the rule, then applies it to the blank. That habit — look at what changes from one term to the next — is exactly the reasoning that later becomes function rules and expressions.
The blank sits inside the sequence, not at the end, so a child cannot just continue the pattern; they have to run it in both directions to check the missing term fits. Numbers stay friendly so the work is spotting the rule, not the arithmetic.
One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.
8, 16, 24, ?, 40