Maths · Ages 8–10 · Free

Crack the rule.
Balance the see-saw.

Every pattern hides a rule — and you are the detective who finds it. Then open the second case file: the equals sign is not the end of a sum. It is a see-saw, waiting to tip.

Four friendly games: predict beads without counting, weigh number sentences, close ten practice cases, and try NAPLAN-style questions. No downloads, no accounts, no ads.

Open the Case Files How it works

A kid detective with a magnifying glass examining a red-and-blue bead necklace beside a level see-saw holding glowing number blocks

Four cases to close

Pick your case, detective

Each game trains one detective skill — and every case gives instant, gentle feedback that shows the working out.

A red-and-blue bead necklace under a magnifying glass, one bead circled by a golden dashed ring

Bead Rule

The necklace repeats red, red, blue — and it never tells you where it ends. Find the unit of repeat and call any bead in the string: bead 12, bead 20, bead 45. Twelve cases, no threading needed.

12 casesUnit of repeatFar-term prediction

Play How it helps

A 3D wooden see-saw sitting level with red beads on the left pan and blue beads on the right pan

Balance Scales

Is 30 − 12 = 26 − 8 true or false? Weigh both sides on the see-saw and watch it sit level — or tip. Twelve sentences to weigh, with the working shown every time.

12 weigh-insTrue or falseSee-saw model

Play How it helps

An open detective casebook with a magnifying glass, red and blue beads scattered like clues

Case Files

Ten practice cases from the Pattern Detective casebook — warm-up and challenge tiers, boxes on both sides of the equals sign, and the mystery of which number does not belong. Stars for every closed case.

10 casesWarm-up → ChallengeStars & streaks

Play How it helps

A practice answer sheet with rounded option boxes, a pencil, and red and blue beads at the corners

NAPLAN Practice

Twelve questions in NAPLAN style across the Year 3–5 band: repeating and growing patterns, input-output tables, true number sentences, and missing numbers — with the working shown after every answer.

12 questionsYear 3–5 bandTest-day skills

Practise How it helps

Why It Works

Spot it. Weigh it. Solve it.

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Spot it

Repeating and growing patterns stop being lists to continue and become rules you can say, test, and use — the step that turns counting into algebra thinking.

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Weigh it

Balance Scales rebuilds the equals sign as a see-saw that must sit level — fixing the "the answer comes next" misconception before it sticks.

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Solve it

Hunting the unknown teaches the question every detective asks: what does the balance need? Comparing sides beats counting when the numbers grow.

For Parents & Teachers

Free pattern-rule and balance practice for primary kids

What is a pattern rule?

A pattern rule is the hidden instruction inside a pattern — "add 2 each time", "skip count by 3s", "red, red, then blue". Continuing a pattern is memory; naming the rule is generalisation. The rule is what lets a child jump straight to bead 20 or step 10 without building everything in between, and it is the foundation that multiplication facts and algebra thinking are built on.

The equals sign means balance

Many children read "=" as "the answer comes next". That single habit quietly blocks later maths: you cannot ask whether 30 − 12 = 26 − 8 is true, or find a box on the left of the equals sign, until "=" means "the same amount as". Balance Scales makes the see-saw visible: sort sentences into true and false, watch the beam tip or sit level, and check both sides every time. Finding the unknown — 6 + □ = 10, or 9 = □ + 4 — is then a natural next step, not a leap.

Curriculum

Pattern Detective supports the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics Version 9.0, Year 4 — pattern rules and algorithms (AC9M4N09) and finding unknown values in number sentences (AC9M4A01), with the pattern and skip-counting work building toward multiplication-facts fluency (AC9M4A02).

The content description codes are quoted from the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics Version 9.0, © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). ACARA does not endorse, sponsor, or affiliate with Pattern Detective or Maths Explorers Club.

Safe and simple

Everything runs in the browser — on a computer, tablet or phone. No downloads, no accounts, no ads. Streaks and stars are saved on the device only, and there is nothing to sign up for.

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Keep exploring on michaelleung.info

Pattern Detective is one of several free learning games by Michael Leung. All run in the browser, with no ads and no sign-up.

🏝️

Crack the rule.
Balance the see-saw.