Young children create arrangements with every kind of material that is available to them. Often, but not always, these creations are patterns. The current study focuses on the non-pattern creations by investigating the different types of non-pattern creations and linking them to pattern-making. Eighty-four children ranging in age from 1 to 6 years were observed during free play in their early childhood classroom. All arrangements that children created on their own accord from a variety of materials were documented and categorized. For non-pattern creations, three categories were developed, which reflect different ways of interacting with the material: distributing, penciling, and aligning. The category ‘aligning’ seems to provide basic experiences in spatially moving and aligning objects with regard to later pattern-making.