WILD Word Learner 1

Matching word image to sound: Learning game designed for pre-readers and ELLs.

Choose a word list, and start your word learning mission!

WILD Word Learner, based on data from the Wordsmyth Illustrated Learner's Dictionary (WILD), is designed to help young native speakers and non-native speakers (K to 2) build their vocabulary through engaging word games. WILD Word Learner 1 (Fly Your Kite) is the first app in the WILD Word Learner series. With this app, kids drag and drop icons to match a word's sound with its picture. Future apps will focus on matching spelling to picture and sound to spelling.

Words chosen for the games are those most relevant to children's everyday lives or to subjects children often study in school---things such as animals on the farm or in the wild, land forms, types and parts of plants, foods, actions and activities, parts of the body, musical instruments, numbers, and shapes. Even concepts described by prepositions, such as "in," "on," "over," and "through," are addressed. For fun as well as for enhanced understanding of concepts, words that are verbs or prepositions have animated illustrations.

Every word in the Word Learner game is paired with a charming and child-friendly illustration, and all words have human-voiced pronunciation. Definitions of words, from the Wordsmyth Illustrated Learner's Dictionary, can also be accessed at the child's choosing.

Based on the latest educational theory and research, the game app is designed so that young kids can actively engage in their learning process. Kids can choose what they want to learn, which cultivates their motivation for further learning. Positive feedback at every interaction creates an encouraging learning environment that helps them to persist in the activity even when they encounter difficulties.

The game’s audio instructions, which can be turned on or off, gently guide kids in understanding how the game functions. The instructions can be heard in three languages: English, Chinese, and Spanish.

After purchase, there are no in-app merchandise offers to distract the young user. No log-in is required, and we do not collect any personal data through the app. However, we would like to encourage parents and educators to use our website, kids.wordsmyth.net/wild, to expand their child's learning through exploration of our dictionary for young children---the Wordsmyth Illustrated Learner's Dictionary (WILD).