Games for Letter Reversals

Over a year ago, I wrote one of my first posts for BMTM about reversals in writing. Since writing that post, I have returned to teaching and my eldest son has completed kindergarten. I sat with worried parents all throughout the year and reassured them that letter reversals are totally normal in a first grader. And, as explained, many of those students who were reversing their letters, continued to do so less and less as the year went on. My son, however, was reversing letters like mad and also doing what is called “mirror writing.” Mirror writing is when a word is written exactly how it would look if you were looking at it in a mirror! Some concerns arose, we did some basic testing and found there to be some visual tracking issues. I decided that in order to make things easier in the fall, I would have him work with a tutor this summer. I found an amazing tutor who discovered that his visual memory is not very strong and, because of that, his letter formation is not solid hence the reversals. She has gone back to the basics with my son. Looking at letters as if they are brand new to him, breaking them down into lines and circles. She is rebuilding his foundation, solidifying his visual memory of letters and hopefully, helping to decrease the number of letter reversals in his writing.

Inspired by their work, I created a few games that my son and I could play to help him with his letters. And, I thought that there are many parents out there who worry and would like to have some fun ways to practice at home.

Please note: These games are for fun and for practice, they will not “fix” the reversals. If you are concerned about your child’s learning, speak to his teacher for guidance.

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Creating the Die

The first thing I did was to create this die. I used an empty milk carton made it into a cube, covered it with paper then affixed the letters with glue. I then covered all 6 sides with clear packing tape for durability. Below are what 4 of the 6 sides look like. The colored line always goes beneath the letter.

The Games

There are 3 different games that can be played using the die. The first game called, Roll and Create, takes a bit of preparation. You will need to print out the template and then cut out the lines and circles. I mounted our lines and circles on cardboard before playing. Once these pieces are done, you are ready to play.

Roll and Create

Roll the die and create the letter it lands on. If the die lands on a “choose” space, the player can choose which of the two letters to make.

Roll and Circle

In this game, players roll the die and circle the letter it lands on on the paper. If having all 4 letters on one page is too much for your learner, the templates also include pages with only 2 of the 4 letters.

Roll and Tally

The last game adds in a mathematical twist. Players roll the die and then put a tally in the correct column.

Note: The packet also includes a poster for helping students remember which direction b and d face. The packet also includes template for the dice that use only p and q or d and b if having all 4 letters is too hard for your child.

If you like these activities and would like to purchase them, click the link below:

Games for Letter Reversals from Boy Mama Teacher Mama

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