One little lesson at a time.
A learning app for children from 12 months to 5 years that puts the grown-up back in the picture. Set the timer, hand over the phone, and play along.
Three minutes to set up. Then you're in the loop.
Most kids' apps are built to keep a child busy. Little Lessons is built to keep a parent and child talking. That difference is the whole app.
Set the session
Pick your child's age (by month), how long this session is, which languages to add, and a parent PIN. You can lock the whole session to one activity.
Hand it over, sit close
Every card speaks its word aloud and shows you one thing to say or do: a question to ask, a sound to make, something to find in the room.
The sun goes down
A quiet warning near the end, then a calm "all done" screen. Nothing on it leads anywhere. Only your PIN opens it again.
Six doors, twenty-odd activities, all grown to your child's age.
Tap-and-hear at 12 months. Find-it rounds at 18 months. Tracing, stories and look-and-find scenes at 2. Letter sounds, picture crosswords and the Explore encyclopedia at 3. Your child sees a handful of big picture doors (Animals, My world, Colors & shapes, Letters & words, Trace & draw, Move & feel, Explore, Stories, Look & find, Camera games and Play together), and the app shows only what fits the age you set.
Animals
ABC animals
Ocean
Bugs
Plants
Fun facts
Draw
Trace
Explore
Look & find
Word puzzles
Camera games
Play togetherDraw with me
My jobs
Read words
Patterns & more
Colors
Shapes
My body
Move!
Things that go
Everyday things
Feelings
Numbers
Stories
Opposites
My peopleNew: 38 tracing shapes and pictures that pick up where your child left off. Explore, a picture encyclopedia with 14 topics and real things to try. Look-and-find scenes and spot the difference. Picture crosswords. Little stories about the potty, handwashing, sharing and big feelings. Camera games for colors, shapes and faces, where nothing is recorded. And nine games to play together, from tic-tac-toe to an alphabet snake.
The other half of the app is for you.
Few children's apps tell the parent what to do. Little Lessons has a full guide to your role in the first five years, written from the research and in plain words.
The Growth MapNine areas of growth from one to five, with the big three on top: language, feeling safe, and self-control. For each, what is realistic at your child's age, what to try this week, and which parts of the app practice it.
Serve and returnThe five-second wait, the expansion ladder, parentese. Step-by-step playbooks with the exact words to say and the mistakes to skip.- Read together, properlyDialogic reading explained in one diagram, and stories built so the questions are already on the page.
The meltdown playbookName it, stay close, talk after. The same sequence the app teaches in its feelings stories.- Off-screen ideas for every ageArts, crafts and play matched to your child's stage, with materials and steps, for after the session ends.
A daily screen meterMinutes today against the WHO and American Academy of Pediatrics benchmarks for your child's age, with honest notes for under-twos.
CDC milestonesThe checklist for the nearest age, word for word, with checkboxes that stay on your phone. A conversation starter for your pediatrician, not a test.
Words your child knowsEvery word is tracked quietly. Missed words come back sooner; known words come back later. No streaks, no points, nothing shown to the child.
Warm screenPulls the blue out of the whole app in the evenings, and tells you plainly that brightness and bedtime matter more than the tint.
Little ones learn from people. The screen is just the prompt.
The research on toddlers and screens points one way: children under five learn very little from a screen by themselves and a great deal when a parent sits beside them and talks. Short, bounded, and together beats long, alone, and endless. Little Lessons is designed around that, not around keeping a child quiet.
What it won't do.
We'd rather you know before you pay two dollars.
- It won't lock the home button. No app can; that belongs to the phone. The app explains Guided Access, Apple's one-time setting that does, and locks everything inside itself.
- It won't nag. No streaks, no hearts, no prize chests, no notifications aimed at your child. A toddler app's job is to be put down.
- It won't collect anything. No account, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. Your settings and your family photos stay on your phone.
- It won't replace you. Every card has a prompt for a grown-up because that is where the learning happens.
Which ages is it for?
12 months to 5 years, set by month. Under 18 months the app shows the pediatric guidance (no digital media except video chat) and, if you use it anyway, defaults to five minutes with the grown-up prompts on.
Does it work without internet?
Yes. Everything is inside the app, including the illustrations and the facts. The words are spoken with the voices built into the phone.
Is it really a one-time price?
Yes. $1.99 on the App Store, once. No subscription, no in-app purchases, nothing for a child to buy by accident.
Where do the facts come from?
They were written for this app and then independently checked for accuracy, common myths, and age-appropriateness before going in. Sixteen were corrected in that review. The sources behind the grown-up guide are listed inside the app.
Free in your browser today. Coming to the App Store.
The full app runs in your phone's browser right now, free. On iPhone, open it in Safari, tap Share, then "Add to Home Screen" and it opens full-screen like any app; use Guided Access when you hand the phone over. The App Store version ($1.99, once) is being prepared. Want to know the day it's live? Send a one-line email and you'll hear once, with no list to unsubscribe from.