Ps and Qs

Telling apart the letters children reverse most — p, q, b and d

How it plays

The screen splits into patches, each one labelled with a letter. Letters drift about; your child drags each one into the patch it belongs to. When every letter is home, the level is won and the next one starts — a little gentler, in fact, because the drifting slows every five levels.

What it's for

Telling apart the letters children reverse most — p, q, b and d. Your child sets the difficulty on the first screen — how fast things move, how many there are — so the game meets them where they are rather than deciding they aren't good enough.

There is no score to lose, no timer running out on them, and no way to fail. A level ends when it's won. That's the only way it ends.

What it practises

• Telling look-alike letters apart. Knowing b from d, and p from q: the letters children flip most.
  AC9EFLY11 (English, Foundation); EYLF 5.4 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0)
• Knowing the letters. Recognising each letter and knowing its name.
  AC9EFLY11 (English, Foundation); EYLF 5.4 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0)

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

Ps and Qs lives in The Rustly Bush — letters and phonics. 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.