CZ Kiddos Cubing 2018

All three kiddos have joined in the cubing fun this summer. I remember when I taught Roark how to solve a cube and Roriana had fun exploring on her own with patterns. Here I am teaching 7-year old Annie how to solve the cube and Alex and David enjoy exploring patterns. Alex is also getting into solving a little as he has learned UFDG, which I will explain shortly.

Before getting into a step by step strategy for solving a cube we learned some algorithms. The first and most versatile one is

Up Forward Down Goback. It can be done right-handed or left-handed. If you do it six times in a row on a solved cube the cube returns to solved at the end of the 24 moves. This algorithm, which we write as UFDG (Up Forward Down Goback) can be used a lot when solving the cube layer-by-layer. It is used to solve the white corners. It is used to solve the middle layer. It is used to orient the top edges. It is sometimes used to permute the yellow corners (when a double swap is needed). It is used to orient the yellow corners. We have talked about the terms permute and orient. Permute means move, and orient means either flip or twist.


Early in the discussions when we were still focusing on patterns we learned an algorithm for making an H pattern. In other words a double swap of edges.



(M up 2) (T around 2) (M up 2) (T around 2), where M stands for Middle, which is the layer between the right and the left layers, and T stands for Top. All of the lessons have been done without any need for worrying about clockwise and anticlockwise. In terms of standard cube notation UFDG is either RUR'U' or L'U'LU depending on which hand it is done with. But UFDG avoids learning some arbitrary notation and clockwise, and instead uses terms a 5-year old can easily grasp. Remember! If you are familiar with standard notoation, the algorithms I give are using a different notation! U means twist either the right or left Up. F means move the top Forward. D means move the right or left back Down. B means Bottom. Front means Front! T means Top anticlockwise. Frontback means move the Front back where it came from.

( (M up) T (M up) T (M up) (Bottom2Layers around 2) ) x 2 flips 2 edges. Namely the ones on top that are in the front and the back. As it turns out it can come in handy when one of the middle layer edges is already in place but flipped. I'll explain in detail in the Solution section below but for now here is a demonstration of simply flipping two edges.


( (R 2) (T 2) ) x 3 is another way to do a double swap of edges, swapping the TopFront with the TopBack and the RightFront with the RightBack making what we (Roark) have called the Fish pattern.


( (R 2) (T 2) (L 2) ) x 2 is another cool algorithm in the arsenal of pattern makers. It does stripes on 4 sides. Roark and I have had lots of fun with this one over the years.



(M up) (T 2) (M down) (T 2) 3-cycles edges TopBack to TopFront to BottomFront. I'm not sure how this came up and it will rarely be used in a layer-by-layer solve. Now that I think about it, it could be used to permute the yellow edges with setup moves. The only other time it might could be used is in the middle layer, but it would probably be more hassle than it is worth.


Solving the Cube

White Edges



White Corners

  • UFD to move a white corner down to its spot if the white side of the corner is on the side.
  • Double UFDG to twist a white corner that is already on the bottom in the right place but the white side of the corner is on the side.
  • Triple UFDG to move a white corner down to its spot if the white side of the corner is face up.

Middle Layer

  • UFDG switch UFD
  • If the last middle layer edge is already in place but flipped you can use the edge flipper ( (M up) T (M up) T (M up) (Bottom2Layers around 2) ) x 2 to flip it and one of the yellows that needs to flip.

Last Layer

     Orient (flip) Yellow Edges

    • Front UFDG Frontback to flip the yellow edges at TopFront and TopBack.
    • Front UFDG UFDG Frontback to flip the yellow edges at TopFront and TopRight.
    • If all 4 yellows need flipped do Front UFDG Frontback and see what needs done and do it. It will be UU Front UFDG UFDG Frontback. So altogether if all 4 yellows need to flip do:
      Front UFDG Frontback UU Front UFDG UFDG Frontback

    Permute (move) Yellow Edges

    • Line up one and do (UFD) F (UFFD). Do it right-handed if the edge at TopRight needs to move to TopBack. Do it left-handed if the edge at TopLeft needs to move to TopBack. If the edges on the left and right need to swap just do (UFD) F (UFFD) then line one up, and do what needs to be done.

    Permute (move) Yellow Corners

    • If 3 need to cycle hold the cube so one of them is in the top layer and two are on the bottom layer. Also you want the one on top to have to move straight down, not across diagonally. Do UFD Bottom UGD Bottomback.
    • If none of the 4 corners are in the right place hold the cube with yellow up so if possible the two in front need to swap and the two in back need to swap. Do Front (Triple UFDG) Frontback.
    • If none of the 4 corners are in the right place and the diagonal corners need to swap then... hmmm... do the 3-cycle. That will put one of them in the right place. Then do the 3-cycle again to put the rest in the right place.

    Orient (twist) Yellow Corners

    • To twist 2 adjacent corners hold the cube so they are on the top left and the colors on top are the same. Do a right-handed (UFD) F (UFFD) followed by a left-handed (UFD) F (UFFD).
    • To twist 2 non-adjacent corners twist a side so that they are adjacent and go from there.
    • To twist 3 corners twist 2 of them so one of them is solved then twist the last 2. Or actually I prefer 
    • To twist 3 hold the cube so they are on the bottom and so the color of the first one you are going to twist needs to go from the front to the side. Then do (Double UFDG) Bottom (Double UFDG) Bottom (Double UFDG) (Bottom to solved)
    • To twist 4 twist them two at a time. Be sure to twist two that have a matching pair of colors together.

    Orient (twist) Yellow Corners (Old Method)

    I taught Annie this method first but then after I went home she was playing around with what she knew and discovered the shorter method I have included above.
    • To twist 2 hold the cube so they are on the bottom and so the color of the first one you are going to twist needs to go from the front to the side. Then do...
    • (Double UFDG) Bottom (Double Double UFDG) Bottomback
    • To twist 3 hold the cube so they are on the bottom and so the color of the first one you are going to twist needs to go from the front to the side. Then do... 
    • (Double UFDG) Bottom (Double UFDG) Bottom (Double UFDG) (Bottom to solved)
    • To twist 4 twist them two at a time. Be sure to twist two that have a matching pair of colors together.

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