What's the best way to help a first grader differentiate writing lower case d's and b's?

Question

I have a very smart 6 year old, that I spend a lot of time teaching myself. She has recently been having a lot of dificulties in writing lower case d's and b's, and I need to come up with a way to help it stick in her mind which is which when writing. She can easily identify them when she sees them, it's when she needs to write them that she gets confused. Any ideas? A limerick or rythm to help her remember which is which?

Answer 1

My mom always said to think of a bed. If you look at the word it looks like a bed with the b and the d going in the correct direction.

Answer 2

I don't know any limericks or rhymes, but I drew pictures using the letter for my son. Like the d becomes a dog with his nose as the bump on the front and the tail becomes the top part. I can't remember what we did with the b. But stuff like that stays with you forever ( the pictures not mixing them up.)
Also, it's pretty normal to mix them up in first grade.

Answer 3

The previous answer was actually part of what helped me as a kid...have her hold up both hands like fists, but with the first finger extended. her left hand is the 'b' and her right hand is the 'd'. If she holds the 'b' and 'd' together, she has the first and last letters of bed in order as well as the shape of the bed. Much thanks to my ol' kindergarden teacher for that one... ^^

Answer 4

when i was little i was taught with the word bed - the shape of the letters looks like a bed;o) ... deb doesn't look like a bed.... and bed clearly starts with a b and end with a d.