For grown-ups

Wonderpop is a free set of short games and little adventures for children around 3-6 years old. Spoken prompts and picture cues help children who are not reading yet. Start together and offer help as needed; every adventure has room for a grown-up to play along.

One path

Your child's home is one road, like a language app's: units of short stops, and the glowing stop is the one thing to tap. A unit mixes letters, numbers and puzzles (each stop is five rounds of one step of Word Quest, Number Quest or Puzzle Quest), then an arcade level that uses what the unit just taught, a Bea & Milo story, and a treasure to open at the end. A stop takes about two minutes and three a day is the goal; nothing stops your child from playing more, and finished stops can be played again. A stop that was hard still moves the path on: what was missed comes back in the review rounds of later stops, and a stop eases to the step before after two rounds that needed help. A child who already played the quests starts where they are. Free play, beside the path, holds the arcade games and books the road has reached. Together time (Little Days), every story and every game at any level are in the Grown-ups sheet.

Two kinds of play

• Games have several short rounds, or matching cards in Dino Match. Stars come from each game's answer or completion records. The tasks differ, so stars are not a common measure of ability. Finishing earns at least one star, and levels unlock after two stars.
• Dino Match teaches while it plays. Level one is animal twins. From level two every card shows and says its word ("Sun." — "Sun begins with S."). Level three pairs a picture with the letter it begins with: the picture says "Dog. Dog begins with duh", the letter card says "D says duh", and a wrong letter gets "Dog begins with duh. Find the D." Level four pairs a picture with its written word, read and spelled out ("This says dog. D, O, G."). Echo the sounds and the spelling with your child.
• Adventures (Rainbow Rally, Munch, Bubble Pop, Little Builder, Star Hop, Number Snake, Block Party) have no timer and no lives, and give a sticker on completion. In the Arcade each one climbs a level trail: numbered levels with one to three stars, where finishing a level opens the next one whatever the stars. Those stars describe one play of one level (fewer wrong taps, less help); they are not a measure of ability, and any open level can be played again. Words such as "go", "more", "help" and "all done" are welcome; speaking is optional.
• Listen, and touch whenever. An ear cue and a highlighted instruction card show when a prompt is starting or speaking, but the pictures are never locked: a child who cannot wait can pick a card up at once, which cuts the voice short. Nothing ever waits for the voice to finish. The voices are Wonderpop's own (never the tablet's robotic built-in voice — if the voice service is unreachable, the host stays quiet and the instruction stays on screen). Tap Listen to repeat the instruction, even if sound was off. The sound button stays at the top of every game.
• A friend to carry things to. In the Letters, Numbers and Puzzles quests, and in the games inside them, a friend stands beside the play area: Ollie the owl for letters, Benny the bear for numbers, Fifi the fox for shapes and colors, Remy the rabbit for listening. A child picks a card up, carries it to the friend and lets go (or carries a picture into the box it belongs in). A plain tap does the carrying for them, so a keyboard, a switch and a very young child play the same round. The right card is eaten with a cheer. A wrong one is handed back and the friend shows why on screen ("That's B." with a big B, "That's ten and two." with counters), so a mistake explains itself; after a second miss the friend shows the answer with a pointing hand and the child still carries it. With quiet play or reduced motion, cards fade instead of flying.
• Taught before it is asked, without waiting. In a quest, anything new (a letter's sound, a teen number, a shape, "before and after") is shown once in the friend's speech bubble, large, and said before the question, while the cards are already there to pick up. The first time a game level comes up, a child who has not touched anything after a few seconds is shown the way with a pointing hand. What has been shown is remembered for each player on this device and is not repeated. A game played on its own from the library does not teach first.
• Doing, not only choosing. Rounds mix in real skills so an answer cannot be guessed from three cards: sorting pictures into boxes by first sound, rhyme, color or shape; "Give me 5" counting out loud; putting six things in a ten frame; building a spelling by carrying its letters in; finishing a pattern; repairing a number train. A quest also starts each level easier and asks for more as a child succeeds (two first-try answers in a row climb, two supported ones step down).
• Help, Again, All done sit under every game. Help offers a model, a counting cue, or a next step; it is always welcome. All done leaves at any point.
• Wrong answers are gentle. A prompt invites another try. Counting games offer a recount, and sound games replay picture names; other games may highlight a matching answer. Nothing is ever lost.
• Players, stars, favorites and stickers save on the device automatically. A grown-up can choose Save our progress to keep a private account backup, including recent story progress and response notes, and continue on another device. Community contributions are a separate, optional choice.

Workbook pages, on the screen

Four games follow the pages of a kindergarten workbook, with one difference: the page talks back.

• Write Numbers keeps the grey number, numbered start dots, arrows and yellow demonstration available at every level. Your child can lift a finger anywhere along the traced line and continue from the red dot without losing progress. The number must still be traced in order; tapping the dot repeatedly does not complete it.
• Letter Tracing uses a three-line guide and models the sound ("P says puh, like pig"). Some levels use a lighter guide. On B, your child can lift between the connected bowls and continue from the red dot. Both tracing games allow broad wobbles; wandering well away from the line resets the current stroke.
• Dot to Dot connects 1 to 5, 1 to 10, then up to 20 while saying each number, and a dinosaur, rocket or butterfly appears.
• How Many? counts a group, then finds its numeral on a 1 to 10 number strip; level three uses dot cards (dice and ten-frames) so amounts start to be seen at a glance.
• Missing Numbers fills the gap in a number path to 10, 20 and 30.

Join in if you like. You can name the number, sound or letter while tapping or tracing, then leave time for a word, sound, gesture or point. A spoken response is never required to continue, and the games do not score pronunciation.

Move & play: arcade games that teach

Three games borrow the shapes of classic arcade play and put counting order, letters and shapes inside them. There is still no timer, no lives and no game over — a mistake just gets a "not yet" and another try.

• Star Hop begins with an eight-star moon garden: moving islands, spring pads, and three thinking beacons about missing numbers, addition, and comparison. Level two counts by twos to twelve; level three explores number bonds to ten; level four spells your child's name. Help, please offers assisted hopping during exploration or a clue at a beacon. Puzzle choices and movement are recorded separately, including any help used.
• Number Snake is the snake game with the numbers 1 to 5 (then 1 to 10) scattered on the board: the snake has to eat them in order, and sliding over a later number earns a "Not yet! Find the 3." The edges wrap, so there is nothing to crash into; running into its own tail just makes the snake dizzy and short again. Level three scatters the letters of your child's name and two short words, with two decoy letters. Help slows the snake and points an arrow at the next number.
• Block Party is a gentle falling-blocks game with small pieces the host names and counts as they arrive ("a blue two", "a yellow square — four blocks"). A full row is counted out loud ("a row of seven!") and the level ends after three, five or eight rows. When the stack reaches the top the board is simply tidied and play goes on. Help shows a light landing shadow under the piece.

The learning map

The dashboard groups progress into 18 kindergarten-readiness skills — "Counts objects to 20", "Writes letters", "Follows spoken directions" — pooled across every game that practises each one, with a stage based on recorded game activity: Practicing, Building practice, or Top-level stars. Here, "Top-level stars" means three stars on a game's top level; it does not establish that a child can use the skill independently. Each row links to practice, and "A little focus this week" offers suggestions from those records. The separate notes on this device distinguish checked answers, guided game actions, and movement or building actions. None of these is an assessment of ability.

Support settings

Tap Grown-ups on the games page. Less movement reduces decorative animation without changing picture choices. Sound and effects controls spoken prompts and game sounds. Both changes take effect immediately. Snack Safari's first level shows two food options; its later levels use the two or three options you choose. Its learning level sets the requested quantity or order. Picture choices also sets two or three pairs in Dino Match's first level. Little Builder starts with two picture choices; later levels use your chosen maximum, with two choices for in/outside and go/stop. It also sets the answer-card count in Count It, Number Hunt, Number Trail, and Bubble Buddies' first level. First Sounds and Rhyme Time keep their two-picture first levels; later levels respect the selected maximum. Bubble quantities depend on the learning level. Rainbow Rally keeps all three friends available; its counting level sets the requested quantities. Picture choices does not change its cargo amounts. Other games keep their own level settings. Changes to picture choices take effect when a game is opened or restarted, so a change never resizes a game mid-play.

A child who taps before the question is over is never held back: a touch cuts the voice short. The words the host says are written under the prompt and light up as they are spoken, so the sound of a word and its look arrive together; after a cheer or a hint the instruction's words come back. Speaking pace: Slower makes every host speak a little more slowly. It takes effect when a game is opened or restarted. Spell It writes its picture where the word would be from level two, so the spelling still comes from the ear.

On a game's start card, open Grown-up: choose a level to choose a challenge without waiting for a star unlock. In Star Hop, Help, please offers a single Hop forward button; Use arrows brings back the movement controls.

A next game for this player

On the path the next stop is always the glowing one. In the library (Grown-ups), a finished game suggests a game and level from this player's completed play on this device. It makes room for matching, counting, writing, listening, and word games; revisits practice that needed another try; and avoids immediately featuring the game just finished when another choice is available. With no saved play, a changing set of beginner suggestions provides a starting point.

Repeated successful play can suggest one suitable next level where the game's results support that choice. Repeated difficulty can suggest an easier step. Finishing a guided trace does not automatically increase the writing level. Open Grown-ups: why this game? for the reason behind the current suggestion. Pick for me uses the same approach within the category or favorites you are browsing. All games and the manual level chooser remain available.

Choose the learning step

Start with a short challenge that feels comfortable. Move on when your child can use the idea with different pictures and real objects, with less help. The level selector is always available; a level number is a game setting, not an age or ability label.

Spelling, one letter at a time

Spell It builds a word from letter tiles while Ollie names each letter as it lands and, when every slot is full, spells the whole word back (“C, A, T. Cat!”). Level one shows the word to copy. Level two hides it and sounds it out instead (“Cat. Kuh, ah, tuh.”), with two extra letters to leave alone. Level three moves to four-letter words with blends and the pairs sh, ck and ng, and level four spells five- and six-letter words and your child's own name. A wrong letter is named and the wanted letter is said with its sound; two misses, or Help, sound the word out slot by slot and point to the next tile. The finished word is the recorded answer, and each wrong tap is noted too, so the play notes can show which letters get mixed up.

The top levels of three familiar games now go a step further. Letter Hunt's Letter sounds turns the game round: your child hears only a sound (“Which letter says mmm?”) and finds the letter. Count It's Add them up shows two little groups with a plus between them and asks how many altogether — counting on into first adding, with Count with me still available. More or Less's Just numbers compares two plain numbers up to 20, sometimes asking for the smaller one. Three first-try rounds in a row earn a quiet “3 in a row!” cheer on screen; it never talks over the next prompt.

Letters, pictures, and sounds

Letter Tracing's Little letters level adds lowercase m, n, p, q, a, and c. The prompt connects each to its uppercase partner. First Sounds lets you hear the pictured words, then find words that begin alike. Speech is welcome but never required to continue.

In Rhyme Time and First Sounds, the host asks the question, names every picture in its screen order, then asks again. Each picture gets a blue outline while its name is spoken. Hear the pictures repeats the sequence. Help, please compares the target with every option, so your child can listen for the beginning or ending. Odd One Out level 2 also names its pictured choices.

After a match, repeat the two words together and leave a moment for your child to join in, point, or respond. The picture choices record recognition practice; they do not measure pronunciation.

What the new play notes mean

The Grown-ups sheet separates checked responses from guided game actions and movement or building actions. A checked response compares a choice or quantity with a request, such as a food fed to Munch or the lane a car drives through in Rainbow Rally. Its note also shows whether the game provided a model or clue. A corrected answer remains another practice event; it does not erase the earlier response.

Following a highlighted target in Star Hop or Number Snake is recorded as guided play. Clearing a row in Block Party is a movement or building action. These actions are not included in checked-answer totals, and they cannot establish number or letter recognition. Trail stars, stickers, and finished traces are souvenirs or completion records, not proof of a skill. Detailed response notes and story progress stay on this device; signed-in accounts still sync the existing completion and star records. Older notes retain their original saved data.

Look for the same idea on another day, with different objects and without a revealing cue. For example: offer five toy cars and ask for three; spread the same three cars apart and count them again. The app cannot see help from an adult, and a finished game or star is not proof of mastery.

The number progression draws on the IES teaching-math practice guide and Head Start preschool mathematics goals. These inform the activity design; they do not establish the effectiveness of this website.

A garage with words and a purpose

Little Builder asks for a door, roof, window, and tree. Each correct choice adds that part to a recognizable garage. Then your child puts the car in, makes it go, and makes it stop. There is no reaction-time deadline.

Garage workshop starts with a pictured part, then builds four parts and solves two missing-part plans. Listen and build gives one short direction without that model. First, then is an optional challenge with two familiar pieces in order; return to one-step directions whenever that works better. Use sound, or read the request aloud.

After building a part, Hear it models a word and a small phrase, such as “Door. My door.” Leave a quiet moment for a word, gesture, or point. Keep building is always available. The game does not listen through a microphone or grade pronunciation. The final car controls are free play: “Go, car!” and “Stop, car!” produce different actions.

Try the same play with a toy car and a box garage. Model a useful phrase, then give time to respond. These ideas draw on ASHA's communication guidance; they are practice opportunities, not evidence of speech improvement or readiness for an evaluation.

Feed Munch, pop the bubbles

Munch is a hungry monster. It says what it wants, and your child taps a food or drags it into its mouth. Each bite is counted out loud and shows in its tummy. The levels go from one or two of a food, through three, five and ten, to two kinds at once (“Two apples and one banana, please!”), one or two more (“I have two cookies. Make it four!”), colours, food that starts like ball, letter cookies and making ten. The wrong food is handed back with its name (“Yuck! That's an orange.”), and an extra one gets “I have enough apples!”. Nothing is timed.

In Bubble Pop, bubbles float up carrying numbers, dots, letters or pictures, and the host says which to pop. The ten levels climb from numbers to three, through counting dots and numbers to ten, to capital, small and look-alike letters, first sounds and rhymes. A wrong pop says what it was (“That's five.”). Help, please makes the right bubbles glow in both games.

In both games every tap is an answer, so the play notes show which numbers, letters or sounds were mixed up. Stars on the level trail come from fewer wrong taps; asking for help keeps a level at two stars at most. Try the same ideas with real food at snack time: “Can you give me three grapes?”, then “one more”.

Read a story together

Stories offers a whole-book read-along. OpenAI’s British narrator leads a short passage, the current word is highlighted, and six picture questions invite a response. Each option is named before the answer buttons become available. A mistake receives a clue and another turn. Pause and replay give time to listen again; spoken attempts are optional and are not recorded.

Little word detective asks your child to find a spoken word among similar printed words. A picture and printed model offer support when needed. Tell it your way asks for four events in story order. These are listening, print-recognition and recall activities, not a complete phonics programme or a measure of pronunciation.

Reading progress saves for the selected player on this device. Choose Continue our story to return, or Read from the beginning for a new reading. Grown-ups can review first-encounter responses and clues used. These notes do not establish reading mastery or improvement over time. Word highlighting currently uses estimated timing within the recorded sentences.

Build, race and choose with Rainbow Rally

In Rainbow Rally your child builds a brick car by fitting exact sets of wheels, bricks, lights and a spoiler, then races it. On the track, each lap has two rainbow answer gates. The host says what to drive through (“Drive through the three!”), and the three lanes carry three answers. The car chooses by the lane it drives through, or your child can tap an answer and the car steers there. The circuit slows down near a gate, so there is always time to choose.

• Levels 1 and 2 (Sunny Speedway): numbers one to five, then letters.
• Levels 3 and 4 (Seaside Sprint): numbers to ten, then the picture that starts like ball.
• Levels 5 and 6 (Rainbow Cup): counting dots, then little sums such as “two and one more”.

A right gate adds a star; a wrong one names what was chosen (“That was five.”). Help makes the right answer glow, and a gate answered after help is marked supported. Steering speed and motor precision are not being tested: the race itself is recorded as play, and the gates as answers. The bonus level, Who gets the delivery?, is a listening challenge with three friends.

What each world practices

🦉 Letters & Sounds

Recognizing upper- and lowercase letters, hearing beginning sounds and rhymes, and forming letters in stroke order are the building blocks of reading.

• Word Quest — One growing game for early reading: letter names, then first sounds and rhymes, then letter sounds, then building and reading short words. Two first-try answers in a row bring a harder kind of round; two supported rounds in a row bring an easier one. Letters and words your child missed come back in a later round, and each full play has one tracing round. Where the quest starts next time is saved per child.
• Letter Hunt — Letter recognition: uppercase first, then lowercase, then matching the two. Level four turns it round: hear a sound, find the letter.
• First Sounds — Phonological awareness: hearing the beginning sound of a word.
• Rhyme Time — Rhyme awareness: hearing that two words end the same way.
• Letter Tracing — Letter formation the way school teaches it: numbered strokes on a three-line guide, starting at the red dot, while the host says the letter's sound. Level three traces your child's own name; level four pairs each capital with its small letter.
• Spell It — Early spelling: building a word letter by letter while the host names each letter and sounds the word out. Level one copies a written word; later levels build from the sounds alone with extra letters to ignore, and level four spells your child's own name and longer words.

🐻 Numbers & Counting

Counting objects one by one, naming and writing numerals, knowing number order to 30, comparing more and less, and continuing patterns are core early-math skills.

• Number Quest — One growing game for early maths: counting small groups, numerals and ten-frames, comparing, number order, the teens, and putting groups together. Two first-try answers in a row bring a harder kind of round; two supported rounds in a row bring an easier one. Numbers your child missed come back later, and each full play has one number-writing or dot-to-dot round. Where the quest starts next time is saved per child.
• Count It! — One-to-one correspondence: touching each object once while counting, then naming the total. Level four adds two little groups together.
• Write Numbers — Numeral writing in stroke order: a red start dot, arrows and a grey guide at every level. Children can lift and continue from the red dot without losing their trace. Each numeral sits beside that many objects, so the symbol and the quantity are learned together; level four writes the teen numbers as two digits.
• Dot to Dot — Number order and one-to-one counting: tapping 1, 2, 3… in sequence while saying each number, then discovering the picture. Levels go to 5, 10 and 20.
• Bubble Pop — Bubbles float up carrying numbers, dots, letters or pictures; the call says which to pop. Ten levels climb from numbers to 3, through counting dots and numbers to 10, to big, small and look-alike letters, first sounds and rhymes. A popped bubble says its name; a wrong one says what it is. Stars come from fewer wrong pops; nothing is timed.
• How Many? — Counting a group and choosing its numeral on a 1 to 10 number strip, the way a workbook asks 'How many? Write the number'. Level three uses dot cards so children start to see small amounts at a glance.
• Fix the Number Train — Repair short number trains by choosing or sliding a missing carriage into place. Start within 1 to 10, move to the teens, then fill two gaps within 1 to 30 using before and after. Help is recorded separately.
• Number Trail — Follow a numbered route and fill a missing number in a short sequence. Each level changes the range, with original pictures revealed along the way.
• Number Express — Drive a train and collect numbered or lettered carriages in order. Use swipes, arrows, Stop and Slow. Collected carriages stay visible; steering mishaps do not count as wrong maths answers. Station stops add missing-number puzzles and an optional spoken sentence. No speech is required to continue.
• Number Hunt — Numeral matching from 1 to 20, then finding a pictured group of one to six.
• More or Less — Touch each object or count together, then compare more and fewer. Number overlays connect each object to its count. The last level compares plain numbers up to 20.
• Pattern Party — Recognizing and extending repeating patterns (AB, AAB, ABC).

🦊 Shapes, Colors & Sorting

Naming shapes and colors, sorting by a rule, and spotting what does not belong build the classification and reasoning skills used across school.

• Puzzle Quest — One growing game for thinking and listening: colors and shapes, then sorting and patterns, then one-, two- and three-step directions and remembered sequences, then the bigger puzzles. Two first-try answers in a row bring a harder kind of round; two supported rounds in a row bring an easier one. Where the quest starts next time is saved per child.
• Shape Spotter — Naming basic shapes and spotting them in everyday objects.
• Rainbow Rally — Build a brick racecar by fitting exact sets of wheels, bricks, lights and a spoiler, then race it. On the track, answer gates ask for a number, a letter, a first sound, some dots or a little sum: the car chooses by the lane it drives through, or your child taps the answer and the car steers there. The circuit slows near a gate so there is time to choose. Stars come from right gates; nothing is timed.
• Color Splash — Naming colors and finding a color on real-world objects.
• Sort It Out — Sorting by a rule (color, category, size) — an early logic skill.
• Odd One Out — Noticing a difference and explaining a group — flexible thinking.
• Little Builder — Listen for a named part and add it to a real garage. Optional word pauses model short phrases. Two build plans ask how many parts are missing; then 'in', 'go', and 'stop' change what the car does. Records show picture and action choices, not pronunciation.
• Block Party — A gentle falling-blocks game. Every piece is named and counted aloud ('a blue two', 'a yellow square'), a full row of seven is counted when it clears. Three untimed build plans practise bonds to seven. A full board is simply tidied — no game over.

🐰 Listening & Attention

Following one- and two-step spoken directions, holding things in memory, and finishing a short task from start to end — everyday skills that classrooms lean on.

• Listen & Do — Following one-, two-, and three-step spoken directions in order.
• Dino Match — Remembering where cards are, and hearing every card: its word, the letter it begins with, and how the word is spelled.
• Munch — A hungry monster asks for food and your child feeds it by tapping or dragging. Every bite is counted out loud and shows in its tummy. Ten levels: counting to two, three, five and ten, two kinds at once, one more, colour food, food that starts like ball, letter cookies and make ten. The wrong food is spat back with its name; stars come from fewer wrong bites. Nothing is timed.
• Echo Echo — Auditory and visual sequencing: repeating a pattern of sounds in order.
• Star Hop — Explore a moon garden with big buttons or arrow keys. The first mission has eight ordered stars, sliding islands, spring pads, and three beacon choices about missing numbers, addition, and comparison. Later missions practise counting by twos, number bonds to ten, and spelling your child's name. Help offers assisted hops and puzzle clues. There are no timers or lost lives.

Playing together

The screen can only see taps. Pointing, gestures, sounds and words are all good answers when you play together — you can tap for your child, or wait. A few things that help:

• Model, then pause. Say "Go car!", "More apple" or "My turn", then give your child time to respond in any way.
• Talk about the play. Say "The car goes up!" or "A big tower!" Pause and leave room for a gesture, sound, or word.
• Say the sound along with the host. Ask "What's that letter?" before a tap, and let the answer come in any form.
• Trace their name. Add a player with your child's name or nickname and Letter Tracing level 3 will trace it, capital first, then small letters.
• Take the idea off the screen. Toy cars, blocks and real bubbles make the same play with more to talk about.
• Stop while it is still fun. The stretch button on every finish screen is a natural place to end.

Wonderpop is a practice tool made by a parent, not an assessment instrument or professional advice. What it records is what happened on the screen — stars for games, and descriptions of actions for adventures. It does not assess speech, diagnose, predict how an evaluation will go, or decide school placement. If you have questions about your child's development, your pediatrician and your school's team are the right people to ask.