Non-verbal Reasoning · Paper Folding
Hole-Punch Unfolder
Fold the paper, punch a hole, then predict what the sheet looks like opened out.
Free to use and free to share. There is no sign-up, no score, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. What you may do with it, in full.
Loading the interactive exercise. Nothing you do here is saved or scored.
Why this works
A punch goes through every layer under it, so the number of holes doubles with each fold: two layers give two holes, four layers give four. When you open the paper, each hole reflects back across the crease it was folded over - so the finished pattern is symmetrical about every crease line, and you can work it out by mirroring backwards, last fold first.
Helping a child through Hole-Punch Unfolder
It runs in 3 steps
- 1. Fold. Fold the sheet twice - drag the track or hit the fold button.
- 2. Punch. Tap a square on the folded stack to punch a hole straight through it.
- 3. Predict. Before you open it: tap every square you think will have a hole, then press Check.
Hints, least revealing first
- Every fold doubles the holes: one punch through two layers makes two holes.
- A hole always reappears as a mirror image across the crease you just opened.
- Undo the folds in reverse order in your head. Mirror the holes across the last crease first, then mirror EVERYTHING across the crease before it.
When they finish it: “Perfect prediction!”
3 11+ skills this exercise practises
Each of these has its own page, with a worked example on it.
- Identify line symmetryIdentify or complete a reflection across one mirror line.
- Track a paper foldPredict the position or pattern produced by a stated paper fold or unfold.
- Reflect a visual figureTrack all marked parts through one reflection.
You can reuse this. Here is exactly how far that goes
Tutors, teachers and editors keep asking, so this is the answer in writing rather than by email. You do not need to ask permission, and you do not need to tell us.
- Embed it
- Put the exercise inside your own page with the code above. It stays playable, and it keeps working when we improve the engine behind it.
- Print it
- Print the page, or print the exercise off the screen, and hand out the copies. No limit on how many.
- Use it in class
- One child or a full set, in a school, in a tutoring session, in a homework club, or at the kitchen table.
- Put it in something you charge for
- A paid course, a paid tutoring session, a paid workbook, a members-only site. You owe us no fee and you do not need to ask.
- Reuse it in your own writing
- Quote it, rewrite it, translate it, cut it up, or build something different on top of it. Treat the wording, the worked examples and the question ideas as yours to work with.
The one thing we ask is a link back to the page you took it from, so a reader can find the live, playable version and the rest of the 11+ skills next to it. That is a request, not a condition: nothing above depends on it.
This covers the interactive exercises and the teaching notes on these 11+ pages. It does not cover the Trace Learn name or logo, and it does not let you present your version as something Trace Learn published.
Embed this exercise
Paste this into your own page and the exercise runs there, playable, for your readers or your students. It is 900 pixels tall by default and as wide as the column you put it in; change the height if your layout wants a different one.
The embedded copy has no header, no footer and no sign-up prompt. It records nothing about the child using it, on your page just as on ours.
One exercise is a start, not a plan
A free diagnostic across all four subjects shows which non-verbal reasoning skills to practise next, and in what order.