A Letter Sounds App Built Around Hearing the Sound First
Word Safari starts with the sound, not the name, because that is the connection your child actually needs for reading. Listen to a sound, then pick the letter, all the way from a first single sound to a first digraph.
Built for children from age 4, right at the point where individual sounds start to click. If your child is younger still, this is where the ladder will be waiting.
Sounds first, names later, on purpose
Most alphabet apps teach a letter's name, its shape, and maybe a song. Word Safari teaches what it sounds like inside a real word, because that is the part reading actually needs.
A child can recite the alphabet perfectly and still stall on their first word, because a letter's name and its sound are two separate pieces of knowledge. "Aitch" does not help anyone read "hat". Every one of Word Safari's early rounds asks a simple, concrete question instead: listen to this sound, then find the letter, or letters, that make it.
A short placement, and an honest starting age
Before a single round begins, a roughly five minute placement listens to how your child answers and finds their real starting point on the ladder, rather than assuming every child begins in the same place. Word Safari's content starts at age 4, which is where placement begins too. A birth year at sign up is optional and only ever nudges that starting point, never a gate your child has to pass first.
If your child is a few months short of 4, sounds before names is still the right idea to practice out loud together at home. When they are ready, the placement will be waiting exactly where you left off.
Past the first 26 letters
Most letter sounds apps stop at the 26 single letters of the alphabet. Word Safari keeps going, across 73 letter sounds in total, because English needs more than 26 sounds to read properly.
- Single letters The first sounds most children meet, like m, s and a
- Consonant digraphs Two letters, one sound, like sh, ch and th
- Vowel digraphs Two letters, one vowel sound, like ai, oo and ee
- Trigraphs Three letters, one sound, like igh and air
What a round actually looks like
A typical early round plays a sound out loud, often with a keyword picture beside it, and offers a small handful of letters to pick from. Get it right and the parrot says it back once, as the single celebration. Miss it twice and the answer is shown warmly, with no scolding and no repeat drilling. As your child's ear for sounds grows, the same letter level focus carries into spelling too, filling in a missing letter rather than only choosing one from a list.
What's inside as the ladder grows
From single letters through digraphs and trigraphs, introduced gradually.
Hand-curated across 7 phonics tiers, so nothing your child meets is random.
Built only from sounds already taught, so reading one is a genuine win.
Nine for reading, three for spelling, opening up as the sound ladder does.
See where the first sound leads
Sign up free and let a short placement find exactly where your child's letter sound ladder should begin.
Prefer to see it first? Try a round on the homepage demo →
No ads, offline, and private by default
Questions parents ask
Is this too early for my 3 or 3.5 year old?
Word Safari's placement begins at age 4, right around when most children start noticing individual sounds inside words. If your child is close to 4, this is a fair place to start. If they are younger still, the sounds before names idea is worth keeping in mind at home until they are ready for the placement itself.
Why sounds before letter names?
A letter's name does not tell a child what it sounds like inside a word. The letter h is called aitch, but it sounds nothing like that in hat. Word Safari's earliest rounds only ever ask a child to listen to a sound and tap the letter, or letters, that make it, so the connection that actually helps with reading gets built first.
Does it only cover single letters, or things like sh and ch too?
Both. The ladder runs across all 73 letter sounds Word Safari teaches, starting with single letters and moving into digraphs like sh and ch, then trigraphs like igh, each one introduced only once your child is ready for it.
Is there a cost to start?
No. Word Safari is free to play with no card needed, and that free slice stays playable for as long as you like. Word Safari Plus is there later if you want everything unlocked, for $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year, covering every child in the family.