Every round has four steps, and each one teaches something
Read it out loud
Your child taps the microphone and reads one word, phrase or sentence. Each word turns green the moment the game hears it, and a rocket shows if their voice is loud enough.
Get gentle help
Missed words are underlined so they know exactly what to try again. Tapping any word plays it in a clear, friendly voice.
Prove they understood
They pick the picture that matches what they read. The wrong choices look alike on purpose, so guessing doesn't work.
Earn a puzzle piece
A right answer flies a piece into the hidden picture. Nine sentences finish a picture and unlock the next stage.
A rocket that teaches a clear, confident reading voice
Many young readers mumble or whisper when a word feels hard. While your child reads, a rocket rises with their voice. When they read clearly and loudly enough, it touches the star and the star lights up. If they go quiet, the rocket sinks and a friendly nudge reminds them to use their big voice.
It turns "speak up!" into a game they can see. A clear voice also helps the game hear every word, so fewer words get missed.
- ✓A big voice, not a shouting voice. The star lights up at a clear classroom voice. Shouting isn't needed.
- ✓Hold the device at arm's length. About as far as a book. Too close sounds muffled, too far sounds faint.
- ✓Find a quiet spot. The meter measures the room first and asks for a little more voice where it's noisy.
Built on phonics, the best-evidenced way to teach early reading
- Strong evidence. The US National Reading Panel found that systematic phonics is significantly more effective than teaching with little or no phonics, from kindergarten through 6th grade. The UK's Education Endowment Foundation reviewed 228 studies and reached the same conclusion.
- Little and often wins. The most successful programs run short sessions four or five times a week. One stage takes about ten minutes.
- One-on-one helps most. Children practicing one-on-one gained around eight months on average. Reading aloud to the game, with you nearby, is exactly that.
- A step-by-step order. Stages follow the classic sequence: short vowel sounds, then blends, sound teams like ee and ai, magic e, and on to whole stories.
What we can and can't promise
Those figures come from research on phonics teaching in general, not from tests of this game. Phonics mainly builds reading accuracy, so the game also asks children to match each sentence to a picture, and the later stages move into stories. The biggest difference still comes from you: sit with them, listen, and talk about what they read.
Sources: National Reading Panel (2000), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Education Endowment Foundation, Teaching and Learning Toolkit, "Phonics".
Start where your child is. Move up when they're ready.
There are 35 stages in 14 steps. You can pick any stage at any time, and each one draws from a bank of 15 items, so a repeat brings new sentences.
First sounds
a fox in a box
- Short vowels: cat, hen, dog
- Blends: frog, drum, nest
- Sound teams: sh, ee, oo, ai
- Magic e: cake, kite, bone
Growing words
The farmer drives a red tractor.
- Long sounds: night, rainbow
- Bossy r: shark, bird, turtle
- Endings: jumping, fastest
- Silent letters: knife, lamb
Real reading
"Time for lunch!" called Mom.
- Questions and speech marks
- Rich describing sentences
- Two-sentence stories
- Short paragraphs
Ten minutes a day is enough
- Minute 1Pick the stage togetherChoose one that's easy to start with and has a word or two that stretches them.
- Minutes 2 to 8Let them read, you listenResist reading for them. Point at the underlined word and let the game play it if they're stuck.
- Minutes 9 to 10Talk about the pictureAsk what happened in a sentence or what they think comes next. That builds understanding.
Simple, safe, encouraging
No ads, no chat, no links out
Nothing to tap that leads away from reading.
No sign-up
Progress saves on your device, separately for every stage.
A voice that cheers them on
Over 1,500 recorded lines, from "Boom, you got it!" to clear, slow word help.
A voice meter that coaches volume
A rocket shows whether they're reading loud enough to be heard.
Works without the microphone
If the mic isn't available, a grown-up taps "I read it" instead.
Start free. Unlock everything once.
No subscription to remember to cancel.
Free
- Steps 1 and 2: stages 1 to 7
- Short vowels and first sentences
- Full voice and puzzles
Family
- All 35 stages, plus new ones as they're added
- One licence key for up to 4 devices
- Pay once, no subscription
Classroom
- Everything in Family
- Use on every classroom device
- Purchase orders accepted
Have a discount code or a Groupon voucher? Enter it when you unlock. A voucher for a free unlock shows a total of $0 at checkout.
What parents ask
What age is it for?
Ages 4 to 8, roughly pre-K through 2nd grade. A child who knows most letter sounds can start at stage 1. Confident readers can jump straight to the later steps.
What do I need?
A phone, tablet or computer with Chrome or Safari. The microphone is optional but makes it much more fun.
What happens to my child's voice?
We don't collect any personal information from children: no accounts, names, ads or tracking, and the game doesn't record or store anything. The microphone only turns on when your child taps the microphone button, and it switches off again after each sentence. To recognise words it uses the speech service built into your browser. In Chrome that service is run by Google, and in Safari by Apple, so your child's speech is processed under their privacy policies. If you'd rather not, turn the microphone off and tap "I read it" instead.
Will it work for my child's accent?
Yes. Matching is forgiving: close sounds count, and small words like "a" and "the" are optional. The picture question is what checks real reading.
How do discount codes and Groupon vouchers work?
Tap a locked stage, answer the grown-up question, and type your code into the code box before you buy. It's applied at checkout. If you opened our site through a link with a code in it, the code is already filled in for you. A Groupon voucher for a free unlock brings the total to $0, and you still get a licence key by email.
Can siblings share it?
Yes. Each stage keeps its own progress, and one Family licence key works on up to four devices.