How to play

Tap the big green button

The title screen greets your child (“Welcome to Little Explorers! Tap the big green button to play!”). It is a little playground in itself — the sun, the giraffe, the tent, the rabbit and the duck all react when tapped.

Pick an explorer

“Who is exploring today?” Your child chooses one of five guides. The explorer walks along the map to each game, cheers at every win and rides the rocket in Space Trip.

Change explorer any time by tapping the round picture in the top-left corner of the map.

Type a name (optional)

“What’s your name?” A big friendly keyboard of letter tiles — no phone keyboard — speaks each letter as it’s tapped, up to 12 letters. Grown-ups can help, or tap Skip.

The narrator then uses the name now and then (“Great job, Mia!”), it appears under the explorer on the map, and it unlocks name tracing in Letter Trail and the name level in Sky Pilot.

The name is stored only on this device and never leaves it. A first name or a nickname is all it needs.

Choose an age

“How old are you?” Four floating sky islands hold balloons numbered 2 to 12. Tapping a balloon lights up its island, and “Let’s go!” opens the map on the land that fits:

The age only decides where the map opens — every land stays open. It can be skipped, and changed later in the grown-ups area.

Explore the map

The menu is one continuous world that scrolls sideways through the seven lands, youngest to oldest. Each land has a gate with its mascot (tap it to hear the land’s welcome), a landmark, and its games as illustrated postcards along a winding path. Tap a postcard and the explorer walks there and opens the game.

• Land tabs along the bottom — Tots, Create, Letters, Numbers, Discover, Brain, Genius — jump straight to a land.
• Top left: your explorer and name, and the daily surprise egg.
• Top right: the sticker book and the star counter.
• Bottom right: the grown-ups button.

The scenery is alive too: ducks quack, toy blocks say their letters and a rocket counts down when tapped.

On iPhone and iPad, games beyond the first two in each land show a golden padlock until the one-time unlock is bought. Tapping one says “This game is locked. Ask a grown-up to help!” and opens the parental gate.

Inside a game

Games have no title screens or menus — play starts straight away with a spoken instruction. The top bar keeps just a few things:

• Home — back to the map (the Android back button does the same).
• Speaker — hear the instruction again.
• Level badge — the current level, with a row of dots for all of them. Tap it for the level map.
• Stars — the total collected so far.

On Android, leaving a game for the map is the only moment an ad can appear — and only if your child has played for a while and none was shown in the last four minutes.

The helping hand

Every game has a coach. The first three times a game is played, an animated hand with a pulsing highlight demonstrates the next move straight away. After that it waits, and steps in when your child has made no progress for a moment, or right after a mistake:

Wrong answers are never punished: a gentle sound, a little shake, some encouragement (“Almost! Have another go.”) and then a hint. The hand disappears the moment your child does something right.

Levels and the level map

Most games have a ladder of levels, and each level brings something new — a new scene, a new twist, a new idea — not just bigger numbers. Usually two wins at a level unlock the next, with a big “Level up!” celebration. Levels never go down.

Tap the level badge in the top bar to open “Pick a level!”: any level already reached can be replayed, and locked ones show a padlock (“Keep playing to unlock it!”). On the last level, rounds keep coming with fresh content.

Stars and the sticker book

Every finished round earns stars, which fly up to the counter. In most games: no mistakes earns three stars, one or two mistakes earn two, more earn one — so every finished round earns at least one. Tiny Tots always gives three; a few puzzles count moves or guesses instead.

Stars unlock stickers: the first after the very first star, then a new one every three stars, 50 in all — animals, aliens, a cupcake, a palm tree… The purple book button at the top right of the map opens “My Sticker Book”, and shows a red “!” when a new sticker is waiting.

The daily surprise egg

Once a day, a speckled egg with a “Surprise!” tag appears next to the explorer at the top of the map. Tap it: it wiggles, cracks and hatches an animal, and the narrator names it and shares a fact (“Surprise! It’s a…”). It’s worth a bonus star. Come back tomorrow for the next one.

The grown-ups area

The small grown-up button at the bottom right of the map opens a parental gate: three numbers written as words, such as SEVEN · TWO · FIVE, to type on a keypad. Young children can’t read the words; a new code is drawn every time.

Behind it: sound effects, music and talking-voice switches, a daily play-time limit, the child’s age, reset progress, and the one-time purchase with “Restore purchases”.

Everything in the grown-ups area