Little Wordsmiths teaches early vocabulary the way research says it sticks: a picture first, a spoken word second, the written word last. One library of words, available as an app, a printed book, and a cartoon series.
A real card from the library. Tap it to hear the word, switch the language, or move to the next one, exactly what a child does in the app.
12 of our 25 languages work right here in your browser, all 25 in the app.
Every word in Little Wordsmiths follows the same four-step method, grounded in how young children acquire language, meaning before symbols, sound before spelling.
Each word opens with a bright, unambiguous illustration. Children connect meaning to image before they ever see letters, the foundation of comprehension.
One tap speaks the word aloud, clearly, slowly, and in any of 25 languages. Multilingual homes can pair English with the family's home language.
The written word appears with its syllable breakdown. Letter-by-letter tracing practice builds the bridge from listening to reading and writing.
Words are organized into 25 everyday categories (animals, food, home, school) so children revisit and build on what they know, A to Z.
This is the same letter-tracing exercise children use in the app to move from hearing a word to writing it. Trace the dashed letter with your mouse or finger, the bar fills as you cover it, and the app celebrates the win the way it would for a child.
A sample from the library, every entry pairs an unambiguous image with clear audio and a syllable breakdown. Tap any card to hear the word.
Decades of research agree on one thing: the words a child knows by age five shape almost everything that comes after.
By age 4, children from language-rich homes have heard roughly 30 million more words than children without that exposure. The difference is measurable in vocabulary, processing speed, and later reading.
About 90% of brain growth happens before kindergarten. Language input during these years builds the neural pathways that reading, reasoning, and learning later depend on.
A child's vocabulary at age 5 is one of the strongest predictors of reading comprehension at age 10, stronger than many school-level factors. Words first, reading follows.
Children learn best when the same vocabulary shows up in different places. Every Little Wordsmiths format draws from one shared word library, so the app, the book, and the cartoon reinforce each other.
Familiar faces matter to young learners. Sky the Owl and seven child characters from around the world appear consistently across the app, the book, and the cartoon, so every new word comes from a friend, not a flashcard.
Sky the Owl · Adam · Alysa · Carlos · Olivia · Rohit · Zuri · Prof. William
By age 4, children from language-rich homes have heard around 30 million more words than children without that exposure (Hart & Risley, 2003). Little Wordsmiths exists to put a language-rich environment within reach of every family, across 25 languages, three formats, and every device a child has access to.
Download the app on iPhone, iPad, and Android, then explore the whole library of words, in 25 languages.