Finish a picture across a mirror line, then tell a mirror image from a quarter turn, then flip and turn. Circle, square and diamond pictures, six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
A mirror image and a turned picture look alike to a young child, and telling them apart is one of the first real spatial reasoning skills. This game builds it in small steps. A picture is a grid of squares, and each square holds a circle, a square, a diamond or nothing. These shapes look the same after any flip or turn, so only the position of each square changes. In a mirror, a picture swaps left and right but keeps up and down. When you turn a picture, every square travels around the middle. Children who only look at the overall shape often pick the wrong one, so the game asks them to follow one square, such as the circle in the top-left corner, and see where it lands. Problems of this kind appear in children's maths contests, where a figure is turned or flipped and the child picks the result. The game counts toward the skill we call symmetry, inside the spatial group of skills. The pictures use different symbols, not just different colours, so they work on a black and white printout.
Level 1, Starter, shows the left half of a 4 by 4 picture next to a dashed mirror line, and the child places a symbol in every square on the right that the mirror would fill, so that the two sides match; squares that stay empty are simply left alone. Level 2 uses a wider 6 by 4 picture with up to three kinds of symbol, mirrored either left to right or top to bottom, with a square to fill wherever the mirror needs a symbol. Level 3 shows a 4 by 4 picture with a mirror standing on its right and asks which of four pictures shows the reflection. Level 4 shows a 4 by 4 or 5 by 5 picture and asks which of four pictures is the same picture turned a quarter turn to the right, like the hands of a clock. Level 5 draws a 5 by 5 picture with a slanted mirror line from corner to corner, and the child fills the squares above the line that the mirror would fill. Level 6 is the hardest: flip the picture left to right, then turn it a quarter turn to the right, and pick the result from four pictures. A wrong picture can be the same two moves done in the wrong order.
Each picture is made from a seed, with 3 to 11 symbols scattered on the grid. For the fill puzzles, the empty half is worked out from the drawn half by copying each square across the mirror line, so there is exactly one right way to fill it. For the choice puzzles, the right picture is the real flip or turn of the shown picture, and every wrong picture is another real move on the same picture: a flip when a turn was asked, a turn to the left, a half turn, a flip up and down, or on level 6 a flip alone, a turn alone or the two moves in the wrong order. A puzzle is thrown away unless all four pictures are different from each other, so a picture that looks the same after a flip can never give two right-looking answers. The tests make 500 puzzles at every level, read the pictures back from the drawing with separate code, and check that the right picture appears once and that every wrong picture is a different move.
The game moves up a level after 3 right answers in a row and down after 2 wrong answers in a row, and you or your child can pick a level yourselves. A wrong answer gets a gentle Try again, never a buzzer. Each day there is a set of 5 puzzles, the same for everyone with the same date on their device. To print, choose a level, 4, 6 or 8 puzzles and Letter or A4. The pictures print in black and white with the symbols drawn as grey shapes, a child can colour in the missing squares by hand, and the last page is the answer key with one short reason per puzzle. Stars and progress are saved in this browser only. This game does not use a real mirror or paper folding, it has no timer by default, and it does not replace a teacher. It gives one kind of puzzle, done many times, in short sessions. A small hand mirror held against the screen is a good way to check an answer.
Level 1 is meant for a 6 year old on the first day: half a 4 by 4 picture with two kinds of symbol. Levels 5 and 6 are hard for a 7 or 8 year old. The levels adjust on their own, so a younger or older child settles at a comfortable one within about 10 puzzles.
A mirror image swaps left and right, like your reflection. A turn rotates the whole picture without swapping anything. A quarter turn to the right is like moving the hand of a clock from 12 to 3. The wrong answers on levels 3 and 4 are made from exactly these mix-ups.
No. The game makes all four pictures and throws the puzzle away unless they are all different from each other. A picture that is its own mirror image, such as a pattern the same on both sides, is rejected for the mirror question.
Follow one symbol. Find the circle in the top-left corner of the first picture and ask where a turn or a mirror would send it. A hand mirror held against the screen, or turning the page a quarter turn, shows the answer.
It is the mirror. Each square on one side has a partner on the other side, the same distance from the line. On level 5 the line runs corner to corner, and the partner of a square is found by swapping its row and its column.
Yes. Pick a level, 4, 6 or 8 puzzles and Letter or A4. The pictures print in black and white with grey symbols, and the last page is the answer key with a short reason for each puzzle.
No. Stars, levels and streaks are saved in this browser on this device. The page counts visits with Google Analytics, never answers or scores.