Why I made Little Learners

I made it for my daughter, Noa. She is the reason every game in this app exists.

Every "free" learning app wanted something from us

When Noa turned three she wanted to learn everything at once: her letters, the sound a B makes, how far she could count. So I did what every parent does and downloaded the learning apps. None of them were what they looked like.

One game was free, and the next one was behind a paywall. The letter she loved was locked until we started a subscription. Ads popped up in the middle of counting. And the menus were full of words a three-year-old can't read, so every few minutes she called me over to tap something for her.

That isn't a learning app. It's a sales funnel pointed at a child.

So I built the app I actually wanted to hand her

Little Learners is a growing collection of learning games, plus a drawing studio, for children aged 3 to 5, and every one of them is free. Not free to start. Not free with ads. Free the way a library book is free.

And it teaches real things, the same foundations a good preschool builds:

• Letters and their sounds. Tracing letters with a finger, finding the picture that starts with B, popping the right letter bubble, and rhyming.
• Numbers. Counting animals, feeding a hungry monster the right number of snacks, decorating a cake with just the right number of toppings, and hopping to the right lily pad.
• Thinking skills. Patterns, shapes, shadows and memory, sorting by a rule that suddenly changes, and guiding a little critter home with arrows, which is her very first taste of coding.
• The world around her. Simple science experiments, missions to find something round or soft in your own room, and helping friends who feel sad, cross, or scared.

Made for a child who can't read yet

Noa couldn't read a menu, so nothing in Little Learners asks her to. A friendly voice explains every game out loud. If she hesitates, it shows her where to look. If she gets something wrong, nothing buzzes at her and nothing she has already done is taken away.

In most games, if she tries a few times and still can't get it, the app gently shows her the answer and moves on. In the rest, it keeps lighting up what she needs until she finds it. It is built so she doesn't stay stuck, and once I had typed in her name that first time, she could play on her own without calling me over.

What free means here

• No paywalls. No locked levels, no subscriptions, no premium games.
• No ads. Not one, anywhere.
• No account. No sign-up, no login, no email address.
• No tracking. No analytics and no trackers. Her progress and drawings are saved only on your own device, never on a server.

Why give it away?

Because I made it for my own daughter, and once it existed, charging other parents for it felt wrong. A small website like this costs very little to run. And no child should have to wait for a grown-up to pay before she is allowed to learn the next letter.

If Little Learners helps your child the way it has helped Noa, that is the whole reward. Please pass it on to another parent who is tired of paywalls.

Want the details first? Read the guide for grown-ups and the privacy policy.

Noa's dad