[en] The concept of patterns is a fundamental dimension of mathematics as well as an explicit topic for mathematics education. Already at a primary level, patterns are part of syllabus, and later, patterns are also made a part of teaching strategies to explain algebra and functions. In this study we focus on gaining understanding of what experience students has of arithmetic image patterns. Data comes from a lesson design where primary school students work in pairs, thus creating an interview-like situation. The analytic strategy was inspired by phenomenography. The results indicate that there are three levels of experiences, where the lowest level is not functional for expanding into secondary levels of mathematical content such as functions.