Guess the picture, then type the word
A picture appears, with a row of blanks underneath showing how many letters are in its word. Work out what the picture is, then type it, for example a dog picture is spelled d o g. As you type the correct letters, the blanks fill in. Finish the word and it stays on screen with a green tick before the next picture arrives, so you always see the letter you just got right. You have 3 minutes, which is long enough to stop and sound a tricky word out rather than rush past it. If you press a wrong letter it shows in red and nothing else happens, so just find the right one and keep going.
Stuck on a picture? Press Hint
Not every child knows every word, and a picture you cannot name is a dead end rather than a challenge. Hint reveals the first letter, pressing it again reveals the second, and if you keep pressing the whole word appears one letter at a time. Once every letter is showing the word counts as finished, so a child who is stuck always gets through and sees the word spelled out rather than giving up on it. Hints are counted and shown at the end of the round, so you can see how much help a score needed.
Sounding the word out as you type
Say the word out loud before your fingers move, then sound it out letter by letter as you type, which keeps the spelling on track. There is no reward for speed here, only for getting the word right, so take the time to think it through. There are hundreds of pictures and every one is dealt before any comes round again, so a session never repeats itself, and the ones you have met before start coming quickly.
Three skills joined in one game
This picture word game quietly asks a child to do three things in one move: recognize what the picture shows, remember how to spell its name, and find those letters on the keyboard. Because the skills reinforce each other, spelling a word you can picture is easier than spelling one read cold, and typing a word while you sound it out fixes it in memory more firmly. It is a genuinely rich little game, growing vocabulary, spelling and keyboard confidence together rather than one at a time. To turn that keyboard confidence into proper technique, our touch typing lessons for kids teach the correct finger for every key.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play the guess the picture game?
A picture appears with blanks showing how many letters its word has. Work out what the picture is, then type the word. Correct letters fill in, the finished word is held on screen with a tick, and a new picture follows. Type as many as you can in 3 minutes.
What if you do not know how to spell the word?
Sound it out from the picture and try your best guess; a wrong letter simply does nothing, so you can keep trying letters until the right one fills in, with no penalty. Press Hint and it reveals one letter, press it again for the next, and keep pressing until the whole word is showing, at which point it counts as finished and the next picture arrives. The blanks also show exactly how many letters the word has, and the hints you used are reported at the end of the round.
What kind of pictures does the game use?
Hundreds of simple, everyday pictures with clear names, like dog, sun, cat or tree, so a child can recognize the image and have a fair chance at the spelling. Every picture is dealt once before any comes round again, so a session does not repeat itself. They are short and familiar on purpose, which keeps the focus on joining the picture, the spelling and the typing.