For Kids · Games
Games for 6-year-olds
A six-year-old wants to be in charge, to be right, and to know why. So: steer the missions alone, switch craft to suit them, work out that the tall falls and the long hold make the biggest splash, trace the family's own rivers to the sea, and count the laps a grown-up has made around the sun. The games hold up because everything in them is true.
What a 6-year-old is doing
Tally and figure
Tally marks, counting in twos and fives, and taking one number from another.
- North, south, east and west of home, and how far
- Cause and effect: height, speed and splash
- Why there are seasons, why it gets dark, where rain goes
- Reading along with the lit words
- Being the one who explains it to the little ones
The tip
Ask them to teach the game to a younger brother or sister. Explaining why the bear can't fly is where a six-year-old finds out whether they knew.
Ages are a rough guide and children are not their ages. If the four-year-old’s page fits better, use that one.
Start with these
Each card says how a 6-year-old actually plays it.
Game · about 15 min
Fly Over Home
Steers the missions alone, switches craft to suit them, and can tell you north, south, east and west of home.
Game · about 6 min
Down the River
Tries the rapids, reads the names of the rivers on the signs, and wants to know why the salmon swims back up again.
Game · about 5 min
Walk Around the Sun
Walks six, then asks how many laps a grown-up has done — and works it out.
Game · Only at midday
The Noon Shadow
Predicts where the shadow will point before moving the sun, and chalks their shadow at lunch and after supper.
Story · about 7 min
Where Does the Rain Go?
Learns the names of the rivers between home and the sea, and can trace them on a real map afterwards.
Story · about 6 min
The Big Stone
Asks how thick the ice was over the house, and looks for scratched rocks on the next walk.
Game · about 10 min
The Big Jump
Works out that the tall falls and the long hold make the biggest splash, and why the salmon can leap up a waterfall.
Game · about 8 min
Land, Water, Sky
Plays the nine, with the tricky ones, and explains to the little one why the bat goes in the cave.
Game · about 5 min
Weather Window
Compares the forecast with what actually happened, and says when the weather people got it wrong.
Game · about 3 min
The Barefoot Walk
Reads the words before tapping them, and predicts which feet will say OWW on the pebbles.
Game · about 2 min
The Frog Pond
Learns the calls by name, then listens for peepers outside on a spring evening.
Game · Only at sunrise
The Dawn Chorus
Tells the five apart by song alone with eyes shut, and keeps a list of the birds heard from the window.
Game · Only at dusk
Lights at Dusk
Times the flashes, and goes out at dusk to find Venus in the west.
Game · Only at night
Eyes in the Dark
Explains eyeshine back to you, and guesses the animal from the colour and height of the eyes.
Story · about 6 min
Jay Forgets an Acorn
Reads along with the lit words, and can explain why the jay forgetting is good news for the forest.
Story · about 6 min
Hoo's Night
Follows the turning Earth and can explain why it's dark here and light somewhere else.
Off the screen
Four things to do outside at 6
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 6-year-old
Counting
A hundred acorns
“Count them in tens. Ten, twenty, thirty — and what do we do with the seven left over?”
Counting
The five-minute bird count
“Four lines and then a line across them — that is five, and now you never have to count past four.”
Living things
How many legs?
“Four spiders. Eight legs each. Count in eights: eight, sixteen…”
Shapes and patterns
Count the petals
“Write each number down as we go. Ten flowers, ten numbers.”
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.