Position and direction games
Choose a game, or try a different year.
Year 1
Year 2
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
For parents and teachers
These maths games bring together related learning across Years 1 to 6. Start with a familiar skill, then try the next challenge when your child is ready. A school may teach these ideas in a different order; use the curriculum statements below to choose a suitable game.
The quoted headings and statements come from the National Curriculum in England. Every game has its own explanation and free printable. Talk through a question together before playing independently, and use the printable to return to a tricky idea away from the screen.
Notes on each game and its curriculum statement
Key Stage 1
Year 1: Whole, half and quarter turns
Geometry – position and direction: “describe position, direction and movement, including whole, half, quarter and three-quarter turns”
Year 1 pupils learn to describe position, direction and movement, including whole, half, quarter and three-quarter turns. A whole turn goes all the way round back to the start; a half turn ends up facing the opposite way.
In this game children sort turns made by clock hands and by Jigby the robot. Every turn is clockwise, the same way the hands on a clock move. Using the 12, 3, 6 and 9 on a clock face gives children a clear picture of quarter turns.
Play Whole, half and quarter turns · Free printable
Year 1: Moving on a grid: up, down, left and right
Geometry – position and direction: “describe position, direction and movement, including whole, half, quarter and three-quarter turns”
Describing movement is part of the Year 1 position and direction curriculum. Children use words such as up, down, left, right, forwards and backwards to say how something moves from one place to another.
In this game children build a list of arrow moves to get Jigby the robot to the star. Rocks block some squares, so they need to plan a route around them. Some rounds start with a route that has one wrong move for children to find and fix. The Quick quiz orders turns and directions.
Play Moving on a grid: up, down, left and right · Free printable
Year 2: Which way now? Clockwise and anticlockwise turns
Geometry – position and direction: “use mathematical vocabulary to describe position, direction and movement, including movement in a straight line and distinguishing between rotation as a turn and in terms of right angles for quarter, half and three-quarter turns (clockwise and anti-clockwise)”
Year 2 pupils use mathematical vocabulary to describe position, direction and movement, including movement in a straight line and rotation as a turn: quarter, half and three-quarter turns, clockwise and anticlockwise.
In this game Jigby starts facing one way and makes a turn. Children sort each card by the way Jigby faces afterwards: top, right, bottom or left. Acting out each turn is the most reliable way to check.
Play Which way now? Clockwise and anticlockwise turns · Free printable
Year 2: Routes on a grid
Geometry – position and direction: “use mathematical vocabulary to describe position, direction and movement, including movement in a straight line and distinguishing between rotation as a turn and in terms of right angles for quarter, half and three-quarter turns (clockwise and anti-clockwise)”
Year 2 pupils order and arrange combinations of mathematical objects in patterns and sequences, and describe position, direction and movement, including movement in a straight line and turns.
In this game children program Jigby with moves to reach a target on a grid, then put sequences of turns and moves in order. Planning a route before running it, and fixing it when it goes wrong, builds the precise language of direction.
Lower Key Stage 2
Year 4: Coordinates
Geometry – position and direction: “describe positions on a 2-D grid as coordinates in the first quadrant”
Year 4 pupils describe positions on a 2D grid as coordinates in the first quadrant, describe movements between positions as translations, and plot points to draw polygons.
In this game children read the coordinates of points and work out where a point lands after moving left, right, up or down. Coordinates always give the x-coordinate first: along the corridor, then up the stairs.
Play Coordinates · Free printable
Year 4: Translations on a grid
Geometry – position and direction: “describe movements between positions as translations of a given unit to the left/right and up/down”
Year 4 pupils describe movements between positions as translations of a given unit to the left or right and up or down.
In this game each card shows a point's start and end coordinates, and children match it to the translation that moves it there. Comparing the x-coordinates gives left or right, and the y-coordinates give up or down.
Upper Key Stage 2
Year 5: Reflection in a mirror line
Geometry – position and direction: “identify, describe and represent the position of a shape following a reflection or translation, using the appropriate language, and know that the shape has not changed”
Year 5 pupils identify, describe and represent the position of a shape following a reflection or translation, using the appropriate language, and know that the shape has not changed.
In this game children reflect points in vertical and horizontal mirror lines on a coordinate grid. The reflected point is the same distance from the mirror line as the original, on the other side.
Play Reflection in a mirror line · Free printable
Year 5: Translation or reflection?
Geometry – position and direction: “identify, describe and represent the position of a shape following a reflection or translation, using the appropriate language, and know that the shape has not changed”
Year 5 pupils identify, describe and represent the position of a shape following a reflection or translation.
In this game children sort descriptions of movements into translation, reflection and neither. A translation slides a shape. A reflection flips it over a mirror line. Turning or resizing a shape is neither.
Play Translation or reflection? · Free printable
Year 6: Coordinates in four quadrants
Geometry – position and direction: “describe positions on the full coordinate grid (all 4 quadrants)”
Year 6 pupils describe positions on the full coordinate grid, all four quadrants, and draw and translate simple shapes on it.
In this game children read coordinates with negative numbers and move points across the axes. The rules are the same as in the first quadrant: along first, then up. Negative numbers mean left of or below the origin.
Play Coordinates in four quadrants · Free printable
Year 6: Reflect and translate on the coordinate grid
Geometry – position and direction: “draw and translate simple shapes on the coordinate plane, and reflect them in the axes”
Year 6 pupils draw and translate simple shapes on the coordinate plane and reflect them in the axes.
In this game children match points to where they land after a reflection in the x-axis or y-axis, or a translation. Reflecting in an axis changes the sign of one coordinate, so it is quick once children see the pattern.
Play Reflect and translate on the coordinate grid · Free printable