About Word Critters

Version 1.1

Word Critters is five-minute reading practice for children aged 4 to 8, done together with a grown-up. The child reads a word out loud, the grown-up taps Got it! (or turns on voice recognition, so the game moves on by itself when they read), and every word read powers up their team. Finish the list and the wild critter joins the collection.

How it works

A grown-up runs it. You decide whether a word was read. If you like, turn on voice recognition: your child reads out loud and the game moves on by itself. It works on the phone itself, shows you what it heard so you can step in, and nothing leaves the device.
Tricky word? Park it. Parked words come back at the end of the run, and the ones that need another go are saved for later.
Catch them in biscuit tins. Finish a list and the wild critter is caught in a spinning biscuit tin, then joins the collection.
Grow a team. Every word read levels up the critters on the team, and the more your child reads, the more boss battles open.
Boss battles. Every word read powers up the whole team. Every few words the team's special is ready, heals bring a tired critter back to full strength, and beating a boss again earns up to three stars.
Your school's words. Paste in the list that comes home each week and practise exactly those words.

Where the word lists come from

The built-in lists follow the usual teaching order from Reception to Year 3 and beyond. Some use words from the English national curriculum (Department for Education) and past phonics screening checks (Standards and Testing Agency), © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The Reception lists are our own.

Private by design

No accounts, no ads, no tracking and no internet connection. Everything the app remembers stays on your device. Read the privacy policy.

Who made it

Word Critters is made by David Lau, a designer and parent, to make reading practice at home something children ask for.
davidlaucreative.com

Credits

Icons: Pixelarticons by Gerrit Halfmann, MIT licence.
Font: Fredoka, SIL Open Font Licence.
Critters, backgrounds and word lists for Reception: Word Critters.

Get in touch

Ideas, problems or a word list that's wrong? Use Settings → Send feedback in the app, or get in touch through davidlaucreative.com.