How it works

A graphical dictation is graph paper drawing by ear — the activity also known as grid drawing or directional drawing. An adult reads out the steps (“three squares right, two squares down”), the child follows them with a pencil without lifting it off the page. When the steps run out, the line closes and a picture appears.

How a session goes

📍 Find the starting dot In the app it is marked in red. On paper you put it there yourself.

🗣 Read out one step Once, calmly, with a pause of four or five seconds.

✍️ The child draws the line Square by square, without lifting the pencil.

✅ Cross the step off That way neither of you loses your place in the list.

Three modes in the app

📋 All steps The whole list in front of you. Best for the very first try.

🎧 Dictation The steps are hidden completely, there is only the voice. Closest to the classroom version.

👶 Kids mode Everything grown-up leaves the screen: the answer, the difficulty, the age, the texts and the print links. Only the task stays.

On a phone the steps run as a ribbon: the current one is large and centred, finished ones slide away. That keeps the drawing area big. The “Step list” button opens the whole task at once.

What age to start

Ages 5–66–14 steps, simple shapes, preschool

Age 7up to 26 steps, first year of school

Age 826–32 steps, plenty of turns

Ages 9 and up32 steps and more, a real focus test

You can start at five if your child counts to at least five and knows left from right. If directions are still hard, point the way with your hand for the first two or three sessions, and only then switch to listening alone.

What you need

📄A sheet of graph paper — or this app

✏️An ordinary pencil

🧽An eraser: mistakes are normal

🤫Fifteen quiet minutes

What it builds

🎯Listening and holding an instruction in mind

🔢Counting to ten without fingers

🧭Left, right, up and down on the page — the first step towards coordinate drawing

🖐Fine motor control and a steady line

If your child loses the thread

Do not start again from scratch. Go back to the last step you crossed off, rub out the line up to it and carry on from there. Losing your place halfway through a long dictation is an everyday thing, even for adults.

Printing

Every task has a printable version: a sheet with the steps and a blank grid to draw on. There is no separate PDF to download — choose “Save as PDF” in your browser’s print dialog.