Free flexible thinking game: Rule Switch

What Rule Switch trains

Rule Switch trains flexible thinking: letting go of one rule and following a new one. Researchers study it with card-sorting games just like this one.

Why it matters for a grade-3 child

Children switch rules all day: from adding to subtracting on the same worksheet, from playtime to quiet time, or to a new strategy when the first one isn't working. Practising the switch in a game makes it a bit more automatic.

How to play

1. Check the rule: colour or shape.
2. Sort each falling card into the right bin.
3. When the rule flips, switch! Most cards are tricky on purpose: colour says one bin, shape says the other.

Bip reads every instruction aloud and shows a 3-second demo first, so children who don’t read yet can play too.

How it adapts to your child

Rule Switch has levels from 1 to 100. Two right answers in a row make it a little harder; one mistake makes it a bit easier. That keeps your child at about 80% success: hard, but I can do it.

• Level 1 7 cards that fall slowly, and one rule flip.
• Level 20 Sometimes two flips.
• Level 40 Cards fall faster.
• Level 45 Two or three flips per round.
• Level 62 Mixed rounds: each card's border tells the rule (dashed means shape).
• Level 100 11 cards, falling quickly.

The two colours, orange and blue, are easy to tell apart for most colour-blind players, and each one also has its own pattern.