Letter orientation game: Which Way Round?

What Which Way Round? practices

Which Way Round? compares a correctly oriented lowercase letter with a mirror-flipped copy. The game says the target sound, and your child taps the copy that faces the right way.

Taught b, d, p and q are included, along with other asymmetric letters such as s, z, j, g, e and c. When a flipped b is a taught d, the game says /d/ so the two printed forms, directions and sounds can be compared.

Who it suits

Children who know some letter sounds and need practice comparing a lowercase letter with its mirror image, including b with d or p with q after those letters have been taught.

How a round goes

Your child listens to the sound and taps a letter. A wrong tap makes the flipped copy wobble, says its sound if it is a real letter, and makes the right copy pulse as a hint. A right tap makes the letter glow and say its sound.

Each round is one letter, and the side the flipped copy appears on changes, so there is no pattern to follow. Five rounds take about two minutes.

A tip for home

Make a “bed” with both hands: thumbs up, fists together, left hand for b and right hand for d. Whenever b and d come up in a book, your child can check their bed. It costs nothing and goes everywhere.

Try next

• The Bed — turns that hand trick into a picture of a bed.
• Build the Letter — builds b, d, p and q from parts, so the direction is chosen, not just spotted.
• Letter Hunt — finds a letter by its sound among its mirror look-alikes.
• Letter Trace — traces each big 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.

Read more

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