b and d letter game: The Bed

What The Bed practices

The Bed uses one fixed picture mnemonic: b makes the headboard and d makes the foot. Your child drags b to the head of the bed and d to the foot.

Some rounds add a p card that belongs on neither end, so the child must compare the shapes rather than move every card. The picture and spoken sounds help your child compare b and d.

Who it suits

Children who have been taught both b and d and need a consistent visual reminder of which lowercase shape goes at each end of bed.

How a round goes

Your child drags each letter card to an end of the bed, or taps a card and then taps the end. A card in the wrong place wobbles back and says its own sound. A card in the right place clicks in as a bedpost and says its sound.

Each round is one finished bed, and the cards are never laid out in b then d order, so your child has to look every time. A few beds is plenty.

A tip for home

Write bed in big letters on a card and draw a pillow on the b end and feet on the d end. Keep it by your reading spot and use it to compare the two shapes when b and d come up in a book.

Try next

• Which Way Round? — compares b, d and other asymmetric letters with their mirror images.
• Build the Letter — builds b and d from a stick and ball, adding p and q.
• Letter Hunt — finds every copy of a letter by its sound among look-alikes.
• Letter Trace — writing practice: trace each letter from start to finish with a finger.

More from “Letters and their sounds”

• Say the Sound — See a letter and say its sound out loud.
• Big & Little — Match each capital letter to its lowercase partner.

Read more

Dyslexia, or just behind?: more context for parents about letter reversals and reading development.