Gecko's Mirror
Symmetry: finish the other half so both sides match
How it plays
Half a picture is drawn in coloured squares on one side of a dashed line, with Gecko sitting on the line. Your child taps the squares on the other side to make it match, as if in a mirror. A square that belongs fills in its colour (the colour is chosen for them, so the game is only about where); one that doesn't just wobbles, and Ruby Roo says "Look across the line!". When both sides match, the picture is named: a heart, a butterfly, a jellyfish. Small pictures first (four squares across), then six, then eight.
What it's for
Symmetry: finish the other half so both sides match. It adapts as your child plays: after a few rounds that go well it steps up a little, and after a couple of hard ones it quietly steps back. The level number only ever goes up.
There is no score to lose and no way to fail. A wrong move is met with a gentle nudge, and a level ends when it's won.
Away from the screen: Paint blots and folds
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Fold a sheet of paper in half and open it again.
- Drop a few blobs of paint on one side only, close to the fold.
- Fold it shut, press it flat, and open it: both sides match! What does it look like?
Three questions to ask while they play
- Which side was already drawn? How did you know where to tap?
- Can you find something at home where both sides match?
- Is your face the same on both sides?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- Does this side match that side?
- Imagine folding it in half. Do they line up?
- You made it match!
Taking turns on one device: Take turns adding one piece. The other player checks it matches the other side.
Talk-about cards: a question a day for a week, for the car or the dinner table. Print them, or read them from your phone.
If they find it hard
Look for symmetry together: butterflies, leaves, faces, windows. Hold a small mirror on the line of a picture and see the other half appear. Or try A Shape in its Place first: placing shapes before matching across a line.
A sheet to print
Print the Gecko's Mirror sheet
One A4 page, in black and white or colour.
What it practises
- Symmetry. Making both sides of a picture match, as if in a mirror. (Symmetry is a Year 4 outcome; this is a gentle early start.)
AC9M4SP03 (Mathematics, Year 4); EYLF 5.4 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0) - Shapes. Naming and sorting circles, squares, triangles and stars.
AC9MFSP01 (Mathematics, Foundation)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for three- to five-year-olds) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
Gecko's Mirror lives in The Bright Spot — shapes, colours and noticing. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.