Word Safari
Six real exercises. Nothing to install, nothing saved.
Bomani reads every word out loud, Rafi cheers every win, and between them phonics turns into a game your child asks to play again. In English, German or Russian.
iPhone app coming soon
Free to play, no card. Want unlimited play? Plus is $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year, one subscription for every child in the family. See what Plus adds →
Two characters, two real recorded voices, two completely different jobs. Tap either one to hear them.
“I’m Rafi! I’m on this adventure with you. Let’s go!”
A lion cub the same age as your child, on the same safari. He never teaches and never tells anyone what to do. His whole job is to be thrilled when your child gets it, and to want another go straight away.
“I’m Bomani. I read the words, and soon you will.”
An old elephant with a warm, steady voice. He reads every word and every sentence your child is asked to decode, as often as they tap the speaker, and he is the one who explains how the sounds fit together. Patient, never stern.
The teacher reads, the friend cheers. They are not stickers on a box: they are two separate recorded voices inside the app, so your child always knows which one is teaching and which one is celebrating. Every word Bomani reads is a word your child is about to read on their own.
A real round, start to finish, plus a look at the app itself.
One ladder per language, and a five-minute placement that finds the right rung instead of starting everyone at the bottom.
Ages 4 to 11
Seven phonics tiers, from a child meeting her first letter sounds to one reading Grade 6 vocabulary. Aligned to the Cambridge Early Years and Primary stages, so it sits alongside school rather than arguing with it.
Starter pack
A starter pack is a smaller, self-contained ladder: 150 words, its own sentences and its own level, rather than the full seven tiers English has. A bilingual child sits at one level in German and a different one in English, and neither affects the other.
Starter pack
The same 150-word starter pack in Cyrillic, with its own sentences and its own level. Chosen per child rather than per device, so two children on one iPad can be learning different languages.
Not sure where she sits? The placement takes about five minutes and nothing is lost by getting it wrong: stars, animals and every other language stay exactly as they are.
Real numbers, counted from the app's own content.
Hand-curated across 7 phonics tiers, from first CVC words to Grade 6 vocabulary.
Up to six children on one account, each with their own level and progress.
Single letters to digraphs and trigraphs, introduced in a proven phonics order.
Seven reading games and three spelling modes.
German and Russian each start with a 150-word pack and their own sentences, with separate progress per language.
You say that was the last one. She says one more round. Word Safari settles it before it starts: the app decides when the day is over, it never interrupts her to do it, and there is nothing on the screen a child can use to argue.
30 minutes, an hour, or two hours a day. You set it per child, so an older sister and a four year old are not on the same allowance.
The time is only ever checked when a round starts, never during one. She is never cut off in the middle of a word, and never loses the round she was winning.
The next round simply does not start. She lands on a quiet screen with the animals asleep and the stars she earned today, and the app rests there until tomorrow.
Not sure what number to pick? How long should a child read each day? makes the case for ten focused minutes most days, and shows what that looks like at four, at seven and at nine.
Three short steps, then your child is playing at their own level.
Just an email address. No card needed, ever.
One nickname is all it takes. A birth year is optional, and helps pick a starting point.
A short placement finds the right tier, in each language, and adapts round by round.
Word Safari works like an app: full screen, offline, no app store needed.
Stated here, before you type an email. Free play gives every child five rounds a day, and five fresh ones arrive each morning. Plus lifts that daily limit, and the free tier keeps working whether you ever add Plus or not.
One subscription covering every child's profile in the family, not a price per child. Cancel any time.
The same thing billed yearly, which works out at two months free against the monthly price.
No card at signup. Five rounds a day for each child, at her own reading level, across all seven phonics tiers in English plus the German and Russian starter packs.
You will need an account so Plus follows your children across devices. Prefer to try it first? Play free, no card needed.
Rafi and Bomani are waiting. Free to start, and Plus is $8.99/mo or $89.99/yr if you want unlimited play.
