PHONICS AND GAMES · PLAY THEM HERE

Phonics they play inside their own story

In Litsee, sounds and rhymes are part of the adventure. A sound robot needs the password to a locked door, a sleepy star wakes when your child builds its word, and every chapter ends with a line for them to read themselves. Try each game below: they are small working copies of the real thing.

For early readers, about 5 to 7
Supports school phonics
Pure sounds, never a computer voice
Nothing marked, nothing timed

Start your free trial Play the games

7 days free. A card is needed to start, and nothing is charged if you cancel before the trial ends.

LITTLE EXPLORERS

Phonics in every chapter, never a worksheet

Little Explorers is Litsee for children just starting to read: every story is read aloud, choices are big pictures, and a friendly owl says what to do. While the next chapter is being written, the sound robot turns up as the hero's friend with one puzzle, made from a word in the chapter they have just heard.

The locked door puzzle in the Litsee app, solved: the door is open and the sun picture glows.

Chapter-wait puzzle 1

The door is locked! The robot knows the password

The robot says the password in sounds, s… u… n…, and your child taps the picture it makes. Tap the robot to hear it.

What they practise: Blending: hearing separate sounds and putting them together into a word.
How it fits the story: The word comes from the chapter they just heard, and the door, a magic box or a bridge opens when they find it.
If they get stuck: After two tries the robot helps and the story goes on. No score, no timer.

The locked door, in the app between chapters 1 and 2. Real app, no sound.

The build puzzle in the Litsee app: the tiles s, u and n joined into the word sun.

Chapter-wait puzzle 2

Wake the sleepy star!

Tap the sound tiles in order. Each one flies into its box, then they snap together into the magic word, and the star wakes up.

What they practise: Segmenting a word into its sounds, and matching each sound to its letters.
How it fits the story: The star (or a lantern) is part of the scene, and the word is one from the chapter.
Sound buttons: Each tile has the dot schools use for a one-letter sound, and a dash for sounds like sh or ee.

Building s-u-n to wake the star, in the app. Real app, no sound.

The frog's riddle in the Litsee app: which one starts like moon? with pictures of a cat, a mouse and a tree.

Chapter-wait puzzle 3

The frog has a riddle!

Which picture rhymes with the frog's word? Three big paintings, one tap. In the app the owl says every word, so nothing needs reading.

What they practise: Hearing rhyme, one of the first steps in tuning into sounds.
How it fits the story: The frog on the log is a friend in the story, and a riddle solved lets the next chapter open.
Kind by design: A wrong tap just wobbles and the owl asks again, gently.

The frog's riddles, in the app. Real app, no sound.

A Little Explorers story page in the Litsee app.

Inside the story

Say it with me, and finish the rhyme

Gentle sound words glow on the page so your child can shout them with the owl. Once a chapter, the story stops just before a rhyme: tap the word that finishes it. Wait four seconds and the story says it anyway.

What they practise: Rhythm, rhyme and joining in: the early listening skills phonics builds on.
How it fits the story: It is the story's own sentence, read in the story's own voice.
Never a test: No tap is fine: the story simply carries on.

Your turn to read in the Litsee app: a line with sound buttons under each word.

End of each chapter

Your turn to read, with tap a word

Each chapter ends with one short line from the story, written with sounds your child knows, for them to read themselves. Tap any word and it lifts off the page, splits into its sounds and says each one.

What they practise: Decoding: reading real words from the story using the sounds they know, with tricky words marked with a star.
Help is one tap away: A word says its sounds one by one; “Read it to me” reads the whole line.
Always praised: “I read it!” earns a cheer every time. Nothing is marked.

Your turn to read in the Litsee app: Pip lifts soft picnic back, with sound buttons. — Your turn to read, in the app.

Tap a word in the Litsee app: the word dog lifted above the story and split into d, o and g tiles. — Tap a word: “dog” split into its sounds.

THE STAR JAR AND DRESS UP

Every story fills the jar

Each story a Little Explorer finishes drops a star into the glass jar on their Home screen. There are no numbers to read: tap the jar and the owl says how many. Stars unlock outfits for their hero, and they are never spent. On this page, every game you solve adds a star to the jar in the corner. Try it, then dress the hero.

Dress up in the Litsee app: the hero in an explorer outfit with four outfits to choose.

Dress up and star outfits

Dress your hero, then wear them in the next story

Your child's own hero stands in the middle with four big outfits to tap. One tap puts it on with sparkles; New clothes deals four more. The outfit appears in the pictures of their next stories.

Star outfits: 15 outfits unlock as stars build up, each needing one to five more stars than the one before. The first ones here unlock at their real targets: 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 stars.
No shop, no prices: Stars are earned by reading and kept for good. Nothing is taken from the jar.

Dress up, in the app. Real app, no sound.

The star jar's outfits, in the app. Real app, no sound.

THE SOUNDS THEY LEARN AT SCHOOL

Practising the sounds they learn at school, inside their own story

Schools in England teach reading through systematic synthetic phonics: letter sounds in a set order, blended into words. Litsee's sound games follow the same approach, so practice at home points the same way as the classroom.

How it works

Follows a systematic synthetic phonics order: 83 letter-sound pairs in 19 sets, from phase 2 to phase 5, based on Letters and Sounds and the Department for Education's Reading framework.
Plays pure sounds (“sss”, not “suh”) from sound files. A computer voice never says a letter sound.
Uses the sound buttons children meet at school: a dot for one letter, a dash for two or three, a star on a tricky word.
Practises one sound at a time in each chapter's puzzle, in teaching order, and brings back sounds already met.

satpset 1
inmdset 2
gockset 3

Why children love it

It never feels like homework. The sounds they practise at school turn up inside the story they are making: a password for a locked door, a magic word that wakes a star, a riddle from the frog on the log.

Every word comes from the chapter they have just heard, so the practice is part of the adventure, and a line to read at the end of each chapter lets them show off what they know. Wrong taps just get a gentle wobble and another go.

Games that grow with confident readers

Older children use Read & Create, the full Litsee story. The games there are about understanding, words and the hero they build.

Chapter quizzes
Optional questions between chapters on understanding, vocabulary and spelling, read aloud, with four answers and friendly feedback.
Try a quiz question
Tap a word
Every page can be read aloud with the words lighting up. Tap a word to hear it and find out what it means.
Hear a page read aloud
Choices, Stars and the wardrobe
They choose what happens next or write their own idea, earn Stars and Gems, and dress their hero in the Adventure Wardrobe.
Dress a hero

IN THE CLASSROOM

Eight spelling games for the whole class

Teachers using Litsee's Teacher Studio can play eight spelling games on the board, live on pupils' devices, as homework or as solo practice, with the class's own spelling words.

Picture Spell
Look at the picture, then spell what you see.
Word Detective
Crack the case: clues one by one, six guesses.
Listen & Spell
Hear it, hear it in a sentence, then write it.
Spelling Bee
Spell it letter by letter to fill the hive.
Unscramble Dash
Race the clock to put the letters in order.
Memory Match
Flip the cards to pair each word with its clue.
Missing Letters
Fill the gaps to finish each word.
Syllable Snap
Clap it, then snap the syllables into order.

Try one

Unscramble Dash

Race the clock to put the letters in order. In class, the teacher picks the words and runs it on the board or on pupils' tablets.

What pupils practise: Spelling the words they are learning this week.
For teachers: Pick the words, choose the game, and see the class's results.

See Litsee for schools

FOR GROWN-UPS

What you see and what you control

Everything below sits in Grown-ups, behind your PIN, for each child separately.

Listen & PlayThe simpler, guided way in: stories read aloud and picked with a tap.
Sound gamesRhymes, sound words, the chapter puzzles and tap a word. On unless you turn them off.
Your turn to readOne short line at the end of each chapter for your child to read.
Narration speed and story soundsHow fast the stories and the owl read aloud, and the soft sounds of the story's world.
Sounds practisedOne plain line, such as “Mia has met 14 sounds. Practise next: sh, ch, ee.” A picture of practice, not a test. The record holds only sounds, counts and dates, never audio.
A break, and a way to tell usAfter about 20 minutes a gentle break screen appears. If anything in a story worries you, report it from Grown-ups.

Questions parents ask about phonics in Litsee

How does Litsee help with phonics?

Early readers practise the sounds they learn at school inside the story they are making. Litsee's sound games follow the same systematic synthetic phonics approach schools use, starting with s, a, t and p, with pure sounds and the sound buttons children see in class. Between chapters they blend, build words and solve rhymes, and each chapter ends with a line for them to read.

Which age are the phonics games for?

They are part of Little Explorers, the simpler, guided way into Litsee for early readers, usually about 5 to 7. Readers aged 5 to 7 on the full story can also tap a word to hear its sounds. You choose which way in suits each child, and can change it at any time.

Do the games interrupt the story?

No. The puzzles fill the short wait while the next chapter is being written, and they use a word from the chapter your child just heard. After two tries the robot helps, and your child can carry on as soon as the next chapter is ready.

What do the sounds sound like?

Each letter sound is a pure sound played from a sound file, like “mmm” rather than “muh”. A computer voice never says a letter sound, because it gets them wrong (it says “buh” for b). If a sound isn't available, the screen asks you and your child to say it together.

Is anything marked or timed?

No. There are no scores, timers or wrong answers to worry about. A wrong tap gets a gentle wobble and another go, and “I read it!” is always praised. Stars come from finishing stories, not from getting things right.

Can I turn the sound games off?

Yes. In Grown-ups, behind your PIN, each child has a Sound games switch and a Your turn to read switch, along with the narration speed. Sound games are on unless you turn them off.

What do I see about my child's sounds?

One plain line in Grown-ups, such as “Mia has met 14 sounds. Practise next: sh, ch, ee.” A sound counts as met after a few goes on different days. It is a picture of practice, not a test. The record holds only sounds, counts and dates, never audio.

What are the star jar and Dress up?

Each finished story drops a star into your child's star jar. Stars are never spent: they unlock outfits for your child's hero, who can also try on outfits in Dress up. The outfit they choose appears in the pictures of their next stories.

Are there games for schools?

Yes. Teacher Studio has eight spelling games, from Picture Spell to Syllable Snap, that teachers play on the board, live on pupils' devices, as homework or as solo practice, with the class's own words.

Litsee for schools

Their story, their sounds

Start a story with their hero in it, and the sound robot will be waiting between chapters.

Start your free trial