Kids' Words1.6 - App Store

A first letters and sounds game for children ages 4 to 6. Your child hears a word out loud, then drags the beginning letter into place. You see which sounds they've got and which ones they're still working out.

What your child does

Pick a theme. A word is spoken. Five letters are scattered on screen and your child drags the right one to the front of the word. The word is spoken again once it's complete, so the sound and the letter connect.

That beginning sound is what children learn first, before they can read or spell anything. It's also the part a four year old can get right on their own, which is what brings them back tomorrow.

The wrong answers aren't random

For alligator, all five choices are vowels. For mosquito they're m, s, v, b and p, the sounds children mix up with each other. Your child has to actually hear the difference, which is the whole point, and it's why the Progress screen tells you something real.

Big words, small ask

Your child only supplies the beginning, so the words don't have to be babyish. Crocodile, trampoline, grasshopper and watermelon are all in here. Children this age already know these words and love saying them. They just can't spell them yet, and with this game they don't need to.

150 words across 5 themes

Jungle, Mountains, Backyard, Beach and Garden. Each theme has thirty words in three rounds of ten, so a round is short enough to finish before anyone loses interest. Every word is spoken by a real voice, and every word belongs to its theme.

Record the words in your own voice

Every word comes with a teacher's voice built in. Tap any word on the Word Lists screen, press Record, and say it. From then on your child hears you whenever that word comes up. Record all 150 or just the ones your child keeps missing.

Say it the way your family says it, or let a grandparent record a theme. Play both voices back, choose for each word, and switch back to the teacher any time without losing your recording.

Recording sits behind a parents' gate, so your child hears the voices but never reaches the microphone. Record a word once and every child on the device hears it.

Add your own word lists

Ten words make a list, the same length as a built-in round, and you can make as many as you like. Type them one per line or paste them in. Names from home, words from a favorite book, whatever your child is asking about.

Each new word needs your voice, so record it once and the list is ready to play. Your list sits beside the built-in rounds in its theme, with its own Progress, and the wrong letters are still chosen to be plausible. A word you add always asks for its first letter, so your lists suit the youngest player.

Made for children who can't read yet

Every prompt is spoken. Nothing on screen needs an adult to read it aloud, so a four year old can open the app and play without help.

See how they're doing

Every round is saved to Progress. You'll see the words your child got, the ones they keep missing, and how that shifts week to week. Enough to know whether it's landing, without hovering over them while they play.

A profile for every child

Add as many children as you need. Each one keeps their own words and their own progress and picks up where they left off. Works for a family with three kids and a classroom with thirty.

Nothing about your child leaves this app

No accounts, no sign in, no ads, no trackers, no third party code of any kind. There's no server to send anything to. Your child's progress, your recordings and your word lists are saved on your device and stay there. The microphone is only on while you're recording.

Tell us what's missing

A word you wish we'd included, a theme your class would love, anything that isn't working. Send it to us at info@circular3d.com. We read all of it.

Our soundtrack is on Apple Music. "The Jungle" and "The Jungle (With Animals)" are the ones people ask about.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/kids-words-original-video-game-soundtrack/389220050

Version History Introducing custom voice recordings and word lists!
- Record words in your own voice, behind a parents' gate. Recordings stay on your device
- Create your own word lists for your kids to practice. Record each word once and the list is ready to play
- Find both under the Word Lists icon on the home screen 1.6 Sep 15 Improvements and support for new devices 1.5 Aug 13 - Supports the latest devices 1.4 04/04/2023 - Improved letter positions on iPhone 1.3.1 06/21/2020 - Support for newer iOS devices 1.3 12/15/2019 - Bug fixes and support for newer devices 1.2 10/13/2016 Updated for iOS 7 and iPad retina displays 1.1.0 09/18/2013 • Report cards are now sorted by the most recent date
• Report cards of finished and unfinished games can now be deleted
• Issues with sounds not playing have been resolved
• Improved gameplay 1.0.1 02/27/2012 1.0 02/13/2012