Duolingo ABC

What kids do

• Explore letter sounds
• Practice phonics
• Spot familiar words
• Read a short story

Who it suits

Duolingo lists it for ages 3–8. At the young end of that range, a child may need help working out what an activity is asking.

Notes for parents

A session can be as short as one activity, which leaves room for a paper book or a spoken word game afterward.

What you need

• A compatible phone or tablet

In these guides

• Learning to read at home: apps for each stage, from letter sounds to reading for fun: Phonics apps, first-book libraries and read-aloud helpers for ages 3 to 8, sorted by reading stage: letter sounds, blending, first books and reading for fun.

More Reading

• Epic – Kids' Books & Reading: A digital library where children browse stories and nonfiction, listen to Read-To-Me books and audiobooks, and look up words with an audio dictionary.
• Reading.com: A parent and child go through scripted phonics lessons together, followed by decodable stories and practice games.
• Reading Eggs: Pre-reading, first reading, systematic phonics and later comprehension are split into separate programs aimed at different ages.
• Teach Your Monster to Read: Children design a monster and take it through games that match letters to sounds, blend words and read sentences.
• Hooked on Phonics Learning: Guided reading activities come with an ebook library meant to go alongside the lessons.
• Teach Monster: Reading for Fun: Recipes, signs and instructions are the reading material in a village adventure where helping characters earns books for a monster’s shelf.
• Vooks: Animated storybooks with narration, where each word is highlighted as it is read aloud.
• Endless Reader: Animated words are built letter by letter, dropped into short sentence puzzles and then acted out in a little scene.