Words Backwards

Materials

• Hiragana cards
• Paper and pens

How to play

1. Arrange the two Japanese kana in neko (ね・こ, cat), then show how reversing their order makes kone (こ・ね). Agree to reverse the written character order.
2. Give a word of 2–3 characters. Participants read it from the end backward. Rearrange the cards if helpful.
3. Next, present an already reversed word, such as gonri (ご・ん・り), and find the original: ringo (り・ん・ご, apple).
4. Take turns setting and answering 3–5 puzzles each. Finish by finding a word that reads the same both ways, such as tomato (と・ま・と) in Japanese kana.

Ways to adapt

Preschool children: move two character cards. Younger primary school children: 2–3 characters. Older primary school children: 4–5 characters or palindrome searches.

Sources and references

• 川崎市立川崎小学校 家族で楽しもう 言葉遊び編 ↗