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Lorikeet's Opposites

Opposites: big and small, full and empty, up and down

Ages 3-6 Words and spelling Free, no sign-up
Play Lorikeet's Opposites More in The Quiet Deep

How it plays

Ruby Roo asks a question ("Which one is big?") and two pictures appear: a big wombat and a small one, a full dish and an empty one, a possum up a tree and one down on the ground. Your child taps the one that matches. A right tap says both words of the pair ("Yes! That one is big. The other one is small."); a not-yet tap names what that picture shows and asks again. Ten pairs in three levels: big and small, full and empty, light and dark, up and down; then open and shut, in and out, asleep and awake, wet and dry; then hot and cold and clean and muddy join them all.

What it's for

Opposites: big and small, full and empty, up and down. 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: Opposites all day

About two minutes, with things most homes have.

  1. Play opposites as you go: turn the light on, then off. Open the door, then shut it.
  2. Take turns: one of you says a word ("hot!"), the other says its opposite ("cold!").
  3. Act them out: make yourselves big, then small; fast, then slow; happy, then sad.

Three questions to ask while they play

Play together

Things to say or ask

  • Big and… small! What else is big?
  • Show me 'up' with your arms. Now 'down'.
  • Find an opposite in the room.

Taking turns on one device: One player says the opposite out loud; the other taps it. Swap each turn.

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

Use both words of a pair together ("This cup is full, and that one is empty"): hearing them side by side is how the meaning clicks. Or try Bigger Than a Digger first: comparing just big and small, with things to drag.

A sheet to print

Print the Lorikeet's Opposites sheet

One A4 page, in black and white or colour.

From two to eight

Tiny Steps: made for two- and three-year-olds too. With Tiny Steps on, it stays on its gentlest level, a not-yet tap is never counted, and there's nothing to read.

Switch Tiny Steps or Big Steps on in Who's playing?, on the grown-ups' page.

What it practises

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.

Up in the gum tree, then down on the ground, The lorikeet's looking for opposites round: A big one, a small one, a wet and a dry, A dark and a light one: come on, have a try!

Where it lives

Lorikeet's Opposites lives in The Quiet Deep — words and spelling. 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.