Learning apps for children
One thing at a time, learned for real.
Three apps, one cub, and the way learning research says children learn best: your child answers before being told, gets feedback that explains why, and meets each thing again just before it would be forgotten. Spell Cub practises this week’s spelling list, free for every child. Gifted Test Prep builds the reasoning behind gifted tests. Melody teaches reading music. No ads, anywhere.
Ages 6 to 11 · grades 1 to 5 · Any phone or computer
Spell Cub
This week’s spelling list, out loud: one parent or teacher shares the class’s words, and every child practises them by test day.
Free for every child: no ads, no paywall, no sign-up.
Share a list freeWorks on iPhone and Android in the browser · apps coming
Ages 5 to 11 · kindergarten to grade 5 (UK Years 1–6) · iPhone and iPad
Cub Climb: Gifted Test Prep
Reasoning with words, numbers and pictures — the three kinds of thinking gifted and selective-school tests like the CogAT, the 11+ and the CCAT-7 look at.
Free to start: 20 puzzles free, then a one-time season pass for $14.99 in the app that never renews.
Android: coming soon
Ages 3 and up · iPhone and iPad
Cub Climb Melody: Read Music
Reading music, one note at a time: a note on the staff, its name, and its sound on your child’s own instrument.
Free to start, then one family purchase that never renews.
Android: coming soon
By age
Which app is for my child?
Ages 3 to 7
Melody. For 3 to 5, the cub speaks every question and only the notes being learned are on screen.
Ages 5 to 11
All three. Spell Cub practises the weekly spelling list from grade 1, free. Gifted Test Prep covers kindergarten to grade 5, the years of the CogAT, CCAT-7, OLSAT and NNAT in North America, and of the CAT4 and the 11+ in the UK. Music lessons often start now too.
Ages 12 and up
Melody. Spell Cub and Gifted Test Prep stop at grade 5, which is age 11. Melody gives older readers written hints and a quick check, so a child who reads music already starts where they are.
How they teach
Built on how children actually learn.
Every card in every app follows the same research-backed method. These four are in all of them; each app adds its own.
01
Answer first, then see it
Pulling an answer out of memory strengthens it far more than reading it again. Practice testing is one of only two study techniques a major review rated as highly useful.
02
Feedback that explains, straight away
Feedback helps most when it comes at once and says why — what the right answer is and how to get there — rather than just right or wrong.
03
Back just before it’s forgotten
The same practice, spread out over days and weeks, is remembered much longer than the same practice crammed together.
04
Hard enough, not too hard
People learn fastest when they get most answers right but not all of them — a sweet spot, in one well-known model, of about 85% right.
Spell Cub
Hear it, spell it, fix it
The word in a sentence, spelled from memory, and a miss fixed on the spot, planned a little each day up to test day.
Gifted Test Prep
Answer, then say why
One star for the answer, one for the why, from kindergarten up: the youngest find another pair that works the same way, older children name the rule.
Melody
Help that fades
Each note starts in its colour and fades to plain ink as it is learned, so a child is really reading, not matching colours.
Every Cub Climb app
Made for a child who can’t read a privacy policy.
No ads
Not in the apps, not on this website. Nothing to tap that leads somewhere else.
No accounts
No sign-up and no login, for a parent or a child. Open it and start.
Your child stays on the device
Progress stays on the phone. We never ask for an email, a birthday or a school. Spell Cub’s server holds only the lists grown-ups share.
Free, or paid once
Spell Cub is free for every child. Each of the others is one purchase that covers your whole Family Sharing group, and never renews.
Each app’s privacy policy says exactly what it keeps: Spell Cub, Gifted Test Prep and Melody.
Guides for parents
Calm, sourced answers to the questions you came with.
Spelling at home
Gifted screening, explained
From the blog
Reading for parents, with the sources.
Meet Spell Cub: one link for the whole class’s spelling listCub Climb’s third app is free for every child: one parent pastes the weekly spelling list, everyone practises it out loud by test day. Why we built it.- Spelling
How to help with the weekly spelling test: what the research saysWriting words from memory beats copying, checking each word at once beats checking at the end, and four short days beat one long night. With sources.- Spelling
- How children learn
How many spelling words a week? What grades 1 to 5 learnFrom about 5 to 12 words a week in grade 1 to around 20 in grade 5, and from sounds to word parts. What the curricula ask, and free lists for each grade.- Spelling
- United States
- Canada
Questions
About Cub Climb.
What ages are Cub Climb apps for?
Spell Cub is for grades 1 to 5, ages 6 to 11, wherever there is a weekly spelling list. Cub Climb Melody is for children from about 3, and grows with them: the youngest hear everything spoken, older readers get written hints. Cub Climb: Gifted Test Prep is for ages 5 to 11 — kindergarten to grade 5 in North America, Years 1 to 6 in the UK, with every puzzle pictures and read aloud up to grade 2 — the years the CogAT, CCAT-7, OLSAT 8 and NNAT 3 are given in North America, and the CAT4 and 11+ in the UK.
Is Spell Cub really free?
Yes, for every child, for good: no ads, no paywall and nothing to buy. One parent or teacher shares the class’s list and everyone practises it in the browser, with no sign-up. Cub Climb is paid for by its other two apps.
Is Cub Climb Melody out yet?
Yes. Cub Climb Melody: Read Music is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. It is free to start, then one purchase covers the whole family, and nothing renews.
Are the apps on Android?
Spell Cub works on Android today, in the browser. Gifted Test Prep and Melody are on iPhone and iPad first, and Android versions are on the way. This page will link to Google Play the day they are there.
Do the apps share one purchase?
Spell Cub is free, so there is nothing to buy. Each of the other two is its own App Store purchase, and each one covers everyone in your Family Sharing group. Gifted Test Prep is 20 puzzles free, then $14.99 once for the season pass, which never renews; Melody is free to start, then one payment that never renews.
What do the apps keep about my child?
Nothing on our side. There are no accounts, no ads and no tracking, and a child’s progress is kept on the device, never sent to us. Spell Cub’s server keeps the lists grown-ups share and, if a class turns them on, anonymous class totals. Each app’s privacy policy lists exactly what it stores.
More about the puzzles on Gifted Test Prep’s page, and about who makes these on About Cub Climb.