Letter Catch

Letter Catch is an alphabet game for children from four to ten. A friendly brown bear stands in a sunny meadow with a wicker basket, and letters drift gently down on bright balloons. The card at the top shows what to catch, in pictures rather than words: tap the right balloon, or drag the bear underneath it and hold the basket up as it floats down. Every letter is drawn in big, round, friendly strokes, from A to Z, together with simple English picture words like cat, dog and sun.

Three tiers grow with your child. At 4+ a big letter comes with a picture, A for apple and B for ball, and three slow balloons to choose from; then capital letters are matched to small ones, and an alphabet rail lights up to show which letter comes next. At 6+ a picture and three empty slots ask for a word like fox, bus or cup, one letter at a time, and first-sound hunts ask for every balloon whose picture starts with the letter. At 8+ the words grow to four and five letters, four letters are caught in A to Z order, and vowels and consonants are sorted into two baskets. The very first time a new kind of task appears, an animated hand shows how it is done.

Nothing is ever lost. A wrong balloon simply floats away with a soft pop, and after a second try the right one starts to glow. Ten catches make a round, every round ends with confetti, a fanfare and a letter-animal sticker for the sticker book, from A for alligator to Z for zebra, and the first round of the day adds a daily sun sticker. A learned meter fills up for each tier. The music box is calm and nothing is ever timed, so a round is a quick, relaxed brain workout rather than a race. Progress is saved on your own device.