For Kids · Games
Games for 4-year-olds
Four is the age these games were made for. A four-year-old can count a real group to ten, follow a story with a beginning and an end, sort things by where they live, and — with 'Fly me there' switched on — fly a flock of geese to the lake and tell you which way it is. Every game here has a four-year-old's version.
What a 4-year-old is doing
Count and compare
Counting a real group to ten or twenty, and saying which is more.
- Counting real groups to ten and twenty, one number per thing
- More, fewer and the same
- Sorting: land, water, sky; fly or swim
- Which way — the first compass, the first map
- Keeping a record: a week of weather, a month of moons
The tip
Let them drive. The games are built so that a four-year-old can play them alone once shown, and the read-aloud voice means they never get stuck on a word.
Ages are a rough guide and children are not their ages. If the two-year-old’s page fits better, use that one.
Start with these
Each card says how a 4-year-old actually plays it.
Game · about 15 min
Fly Over Home
Flies a mission with 'Fly me there' on, watches the arrow, and says which way the lake is from home.
Game · about 10 min
The Big Jump
Chooses fly or swim and finds out which animals can't fly; compares the frog's splash with the bear's.
Game · about 6 min
Down the River
Steers round the rocks alone, chases every mayfly, and learns which animals eat salmon and which just watch.
Game · about 8 min
Land, Water, Sky
Finds the real homes — the den, the burrow, the nest — and meets the animals that live in two places, like the duck and the frog.
Game · about 5 min
Weather Window
Keeps the week, and counts how many sunny days there were by Friday.
Game · about 5 min
Walk Around the Sun
Walks four laps, one for each birthday, and sees the same four seasons go past each time.
Game · about 3 min
The Barefoot Walk
Steers round the pinecones, grabs the words, and tries the duck's feet in the mud.
Game · about 2 min
The Frog Pond
Counts the frogs, and wants to find the last two kinds.
Game · Only at sunrise
The Dawn Chorus
Learns one song by its words — usually the chickadee's fee-bee — and listens for it outside the next morning.
Game · Only at midday
The Noon Shadow
Does the three jobs, then goes outside at lunch to stand on their own shadow.
Game · Only at dusk
Lights at Dusk
Waits for the flash before tapping, counts to ten, and wants to see a real firefly.
Game · Only at night
Eyes in the Dark
Finds all six, counts them, and asks to take a flashlight outside.
Story · about 6 min
Jay Forgets an Acorn
Says what season comes next before the page turns, and counts the acorns the jay buries.
Story · about 7 min
Where Does the Rain Go?
Follows the drop from river to river and says the names; asks where the puddle went after rain.
Story · about 6 min
Hoo's Night
Counts the stars, checks tonight's moon against the real one, and says who cooks for you.
Story · about 6 min
The Big Stone
Grasps that the stone came from somewhere else and that ice can carry things.
Off the screen
Four things to do outside at 4
The screen is the small half. These are from the day planner, which builds a whole day of them around your children and today’s weather.
With the words to say
Lessons written for a 4-year-old
Counting
A hundred acorns
“Count them into my hand, one at a time. One number for each acorn — don't say two numbers for the same one.”
Counting
The five-minute bird count
“Every bird gets one mark. One bird, one mark — no double marks for a loud one.”
Living things
How many legs?
“Count the legs on this beetle. Point at each one as you say the number.”
Shapes and patterns
Count the petals
“Touch each petal once as you count. Start where the sun is and go all the way round.”
Made for where you live
Tell it where you live
The games draw the clearing in your real season and sky, follow your own rivers to the sea, and fly over your own town. A town, postal code or ZIP is all it needs — and it is kept on this device only.
No ads, ever
The children's pages carry no advertising and no advertising scripts. Nothing is for sale inside a game.
No accounts, no tracking
Nothing to sign up for. No analytics on the children's pages, and no location or name leaves the device.
Read aloud
Every word is spoken by the device's own voice, and lit as it is read, so a child who cannot read yet can still play alone.
Nothing to fail
No scores, no timers, no wrong answers that scold. A wrong box bounces back; the story waits.
Real, and local
Today's weather, tonight's moon, your own rivers and your own town from the air. The game matches the window.
A lock for the grown-ups
One tap takes the whole screen and stops the back button; a press-and-hold gets out. A one-tap sound switch, too.