Backwards Parrot

A silly word game where you say two words and your child — a parrot who gets everything back to front — says them in reverse order. It is the one game here that is almost pure “hold it and change it in your head”.

  1. Introduce the parrot. “This parrot is a bit muddled — whatever it hears, it says backwards. If I say cat, shoe, the parrot says shoe, cat.”
  2. Show it with objects first. Put a spoon and a block in a row, name them left to right, then touch them right to left while you say them backwards. Do two or three together.
  3. Take the objects away and try with words alone: “Dog… ball.” Leave about a second between words, then wait.
  4. Use short, familiar, unrelated words — sock, moon rather than salt, pepper — so the answer can’t come from habit.
  5. Celebrate with a squawk when the parrot gets it. If it comes out forwards, smile: “That’s the ordinary parrot! What does the backwards parrot say?”
  6. Play five or six pairs, then let your child give you pairs to reverse.
  7. Only when two words are easy most of the time, try a set of three.

Variation: reverse two numbers (“three, seven” → “seven, three”), two animal noises, two claps-and-stamps, or the two things you just did (“we brushed teeth, then read a book — backwards parrot?”).

Requirements

  • Space: None — works at the table, in the car, in the bath, or in a queue
  • Surface: Not applicable
  • Materials: Two or three small objects for the first demonstration; after that nothing at all
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; siblings can take turns being the parrot
  • Supervision: Light — the adult says the words and keeps the pace gentle

Rationale & Objective

Repeating words in the order heard needs only short-term storage; saying them backwards means holding them and re-ordering them at the same time, which is why backward span is one of the standard measures of working memory proper rather than simple memory (Gathercole, Pickering, Ambridge & Wearing, 2004; Diamond, 2013). Backward word and digit span have been used with preschoolers for decades — for example by Davis and Pratt (1995), who found that backward digit span predicted three- to five-year-olds’ reasoning about other minds, and by Carlson, Moses and Breton (2002). Typical performance at five is modest: most children can reverse two items and three is hard, so a child who manages two words is doing exactly what is expected. Starting with visible objects follows Gathercole and Alloway’s (2008) advice to lighten the load with external supports and then fade them. Honest framing — backward span is a well-validated measure; playing this game makes children better at reversing lists and gives practice at mental manipulation, but the evidence that such practice lifts unrelated skills is weak (Melby-Lervåg & Hulme, 2013). Treat it as a fun mental stretch, not a brain-training programme.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: repeats the two words in the order heard, or says only the last word; can reverse them only while touching the objects
  • Developing: reverses two words without objects on some turns, often after a pause or a false start in forward order that they then correct
  • Proficient: reverses two unrelated words quickly and reliably; occasionally manages three; can explain the rule (“you say the last one first”)
  • Advanced: reverses three words or three numbers fairly often, gives fair pairs to an adult and spots when the adult gets it wrong, and applies the idea elsewhere (telling the day’s events backwards)

Safety Notes

  • Physically risk-free; the caution here is emotional — this is a genuinely hard task for five-year-olds and should stay light and short
  • Stop after a handful of turns or at the first sign of frustration; drop back to objects or to ordinary forwards echoing rather than pushing on
  • Do not use it as a test or compare siblings — two-item reversal is the expected level at five, and plenty of typical children are not there yet
  • If your child has a speech or language delay, keep to words they can say easily so that the game tests memory, not pronunciation; ask your speech-language therapist if unsure

Hints

  • Playfulness: use a parrot puppet or a sock on your hand, squawk the answers, and let the parrot get muddled when you play so your child can correct it
  • Sustain interest: theme the pairs — foods on Monday, animals on Tuesday, family names, things you can see out of the car window — and keep a running joke of the funniest reversed pair
  • Common mistake: jumping to three words too soon, or choosing pairs that go together (knife, fork) so the child answers from association. Stay at two unrelated words until it is easy
  • No equipment: after the first demonstration this needs nothing, which makes it ideal for car journeys, waiting rooms, and bedtime
  • Cross-domain: builds sequence words (first, last, before, after) and listening; reversing two numbers links to counting backwards; reversing two sounds or syllables edges into phonological awareness
  • Progression: reverse two visible objects → two pictures turned face down → two spoken words → two numbers → three objects → three spoken words → child sets the pairs

Sources

  • Gathercole, S. E., Pickering, S. J., Ambridge, B. & Wearing, H. (2004). “The structure of working memory from 4 to 15 years of age.” Developmental Psychology, 40(2), 177–190
  • Davis, H. L. & Pratt, C. (1995). “The development of children’s theory of mind: The working memory explanation.” Australian Journal of Psychology, 47(1), 25–31
  • Carlson, S. M., Moses, L. J. & Breton, C. (2002). “How specific is the relation between executive function and theory of mind? Contributions of inhibitory control and working memory.” Infant and Child Development, 11(2), 73–92
  • Diamond, A. (2013). “Executive Functions.” Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168
  • Gathercole, S. E. & Alloway, T. P. (2008). Working Memory and Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers. Sage
  • Melby-Lervåg, M. & Hulme, C. (2013). “Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review.” Developmental Psychology, 49(2), 270–291