One little lesson at a time.
A learning app for children from 12 months to 5 years that puts the grown-up back in the picture. Set the timer, hand over the phone, and play along.
Three minutes to set up. Then you're in the loop.
Most kids' apps are built to keep a child busy. Little Lessons is built to keep a parent and child talking. That difference is the whole app.
Set the session
Pick your child's age (by month), how long this session is, which languages to add, and a parent PIN. You can lock the whole session to one activity.
Hand it over, sit close
Every card speaks its word aloud and shows you one thing to say or do: a question to ask, a sound to make, something to find in the room.
The sun goes down
A quiet two-minute warning, then a calm "all done" screen. Nothing on it leads anywhere. Only your PIN opens it again.
Six doors, twenty-odd activities, all grown to your child's age.
Tap-and-hear at 12 months. Two-choice find-it rounds at 18 months. Letters and stories at 2. Letter sounds, tracing and opposites at 3. Word building, patterns and four-choice rounds in a second language at 4. The child's menu is six big doors (Animals, My world, Colors & shapes, Letters & words, Sing & move, Draw & read), each opening a handful of activities. The app decides what to show from the age you set; a one-year-old sees five tiles, not twenty-three.
Animals
ABC animals
Ocean
Bugs
Plants
Fun facts
Draw
Draw with me
My jobs
Read words
Patterns & more
Colors
Shapes
My body
Move!
Songs
Things that go
Everyday things
Feelings
Numbers
Stories
Opposites
My peopleNew: Draw with me, twenty step-by-step drawings where a gentle grey line shows where the next stroke goes (a sun, a house, a cat, a train, a rocket). My jobs, for washing hands, brushing teeth and shoes-on routines your child can rehearse and then do for real. Rhyme time and Clap it, the sound games that actually predict reading. Words in English, Spanish, French, Mandarin and German. Six read-together stories with a question for you on every page. Six classic songs with actions. A Move category that gets everyone off the couch. Photos of your own family on cards your child can tap. And 590 fun facts, every one checked for accuracy and for a three-year-old's ears.
The other half of the app is for you.
Few children's apps tell the parent what to do. Little Lessons has a full guide to your role in the first five years, written from the research and in plain words.
The Growth MapNine areas of growth from one to five, with the big three on top: language, feeling safe, and self-control. For each, what is realistic at your child's age, what to try this week, and which parts of the app practice it.
Serve and returnThe five-second wait, the expansion ladder, parentese. Step-by-step playbooks with the exact words to say and the mistakes to skip.
Read together, properlyDialogic reading explained in one diagram, and stories built so the questions are already on the page.
The meltdown playbookName it, stay close, talk after. The same sequence the app teaches in its feelings stories.
Off-screen ideas for every ageArts, crafts and play matched to your child's stage, with materials and steps, for after the session ends.
A daily screen meterMinutes today against the WHO and American Academy of Pediatrics benchmarks for your child's age, with honest notes for under-twos.
CDC milestonesThe checklist for the nearest age, word for word, with checkboxes that stay on your phone. A conversation starter for your pediatrician, not a test.
Words your child knowsEvery word is tracked quietly. Missed words come back sooner; known words come back later. No streaks, no points, nothing shown to the child.
Warm screenPulls the blue out of the whole app in the evenings, and tells you plainly that brightness and bedtime matter more than the tint.
Little ones learn from people. The screen is just the prompt.
The research on toddlers and screens points one way: children under five learn very little from a screen by themselves and a great deal when a parent sits beside them and talks. Short, bounded, and together beats long, alone, and endless. Little Lessons is designed around that, not around keeping a child quiet.
What it won't do.
We'd rather you know before you pay two dollars.
- It won't lock the home button. No app can; that belongs to the phone. The app explains Guided Access, Apple's one-time setting that does, and locks everything inside itself.
- It won't nag. No streaks, no hearts, no prize chests, no notifications aimed at your child. A toddler app's job is to be put down.
- It won't collect anything. No account, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. Your settings and your family photos stay on your phone.
- It won't replace you. Every card has a prompt for a grown-up because that is where the learning happens.
Which ages is it for?
12 months to 5 years, set by month. Under 18 months the app shows the pediatric guidance (no digital media except video chat) and, if you use it anyway, defaults to five minutes with the grown-up prompts on.
Does it work without internet?
Yes. Everything is inside the app, including the illustrations and the facts. The words are spoken with the voices built into the phone.
Is it really a one-time price?
Yes. $1.99 on the App Store, once. No subscription, no in-app purchases, nothing for a child to buy by accident.
Where do the facts come from?
They were written for this app and then independently checked for accuracy, common myths, and age-appropriateness before going in. Sixteen were corrected in that review. The sources behind the grown-up guide are listed inside the app.
Coming to the App Store.
Little Lessons is being prepared for the App Store. Want to know the day it's live? Send a one-line email and you'll hear once, with no list to unsubscribe from.