Learn the English Alphabet

Letters in small steps, words straight away

The alphabet here is split into eight short steps. Each step brings a few new letters, and right after them come words made only from letters the child already knows: after a, t, c, b and r they can read cat, bat and rat. On a word page the letter and the ending join into a word – c + at = cat – then a quick picture game checks it, and short lines like “A cat and a rat.” wait to be read.

One page for every letter

Children learning to read need the sound a letter makes long before they need its name. Every page here starts with that sound: tap the big letter and hear it, as many times as you like.

Under the letter wait three words that begin with the same sound, each one a short animation – an ant carrying a leaf, an alligator opening its mouth. Tap a word and you hear it spoken. Then comes the tracing box: draw the capital and the small letter over the guide with a finger or a mouse, wipe it and do it again.

Nothing is marked and nothing is timed. Children can work through the alphabet in order or jump to the letter they are learning this week; the strip at the top of every page keeps track of the ones already done.