Visual processing game · Grades 2–13
Line of Sight: Free Visual Scanning Game for Kids
Line of Sight is a free visual scanning game. Search busy boards for every target, catch split-second flashes and follow one line through a tangle with your eyes. Watch out for the lookalikes.
Part of our 24 brain games for kids, free with an account.
What Line of Sight trains
Line of Sight builds visual scanning and selective attention: searching a busy scene in an orderly way, telling near-identical items apart (b and d, 69 and 96, a turned shape) and following one line through a tangle. These are the same skills children use to find a word on a page, copy from the board, read a timetable or spot a careless slip in their working.
What the research says: Scanning carefully and ignoring look-alikes trains selective attention, and attention at the start of school is one of the strongest predictors of later reading and maths (Grissmer et al., 2010).
Who Line of Sight is for
Line of Sight suits Grades 2–13. Each level adds items and targets. From Explorer up, the lookalikes get closer (mirror-image letters, turned shapes, swapped digits), and at Expert the items drift slowly. Quick Glance adapts as you play: every catch shortens the next flash and every miss lengthens it. Track the Line adds more lines and crossings.
How to play Line of Sight
- Choose a game type: search the board, Quick Glance or Track the Line.
- Find every target and skip the lookalikes.
- In Quick Glance, catch what flashes before it disappears.
- In Track the Line, follow one line from start to end with your eyes.
- Check the search path on your results card.
Tips for parents and teachers
Sit alongside for the first round and ask, “Where will you start looking?” Praise a steady, row-by-row search more than speed; accuracy comes first and speed follows. The search path on the results card shows whether your child scanned in order or jumped about, which is a useful thing to talk about. Ten to fifteen minutes is plenty.
FAQs
What age is Line of Sight for?
Grades 2–13, roughly ages 7 to 18. Lookalikes get harder from Explorer up, and items drift at Expert.
What is visual scanning?
Searching a scene in an orderly way to find what you need. Children use it to find words on a page, copy from the board and check their work.
Does it help with mixing up b and d?
It gives practice telling mirror-image letters and swapped digits apart, alongside the reading practice they get at school.
Is there a timer?
Race mode is optional. Leave the clock off for children who find timing stressful.
More brain games to try
Prefer paper? Practise the same skill with our free printable worksheets: Line of Sight.