Duolingo ABC Literacy App for Ages 3 to 7

Disclosure: This post is written in partnership with Duolingo ABC. All opinions are my own.

Parents and teachers of early readers ages 3 to 7, the free Duolingo ABC app helps children grow as readers with 300 bite-sized activities that teach the alphabet, phonics, and sight words.

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Duolingo ABC now has expanded to include 1st grade! (Previously, Duolingo ABC was a pre-K through Kindergarten curriculum.)

What can you expect with the expanded Duolingo ABC reading curriculum?

50 new first-grade activities making for 300 total reading activities to help growing readers.

Developed by learning scientists, aligned with Common Core Standards, and based on recommendations by the National Reading Panel, Duolingo ABC provides fun activities and lessons to learn the alphabet, phonics, and sight words.

And don’t worry, even if you have a large family or small class, the app can accommodate up to 8 profiles, another helpful option for the various ways that children are learning right now whether at-home distance learning, learning pods, or homeschooling.

Plus, there are no ads nor in-app purchases!

Different Levels

Pick one of the three levels from which to start– 1) beginner, 2) knows some letters and sounds, or 3) knows most letters and sounds.

What to Expect

It’s Independent & Engaging

Kids navigate independently through a step by step, safe program. What could be better!?

Parents may skip ahead if they want to see what’s coming.

The pacing is set up to do daily lessons but you can keep going at your own pace. They won’t get to go on until they get enough answers right.

If kids don’t get the answer right, they will lose part of a heart (up at the top) and get the chance to keep trying. (New hearts are added when a child advances to the next lesson.)

When they finish a lesson, kids earn a star.

Learn Phonemic Awareness & Phonics

The app is designed to build phonemic awareness and knowledge of phonics as your child navigates through the Duolingo ABC activities.

Oh, and be sure to enable the microphone. Then, not only will kids be able to hear the letter sounds but they’ll be able to practice saying them back into the app. (Speech recognition!) This is such a fantastic feature because it’s so interactive and practical.

Kids get lots of fun games for each lesson. They’ll play games such as finding the correct letter to match the sounds or finding things that start with the letter, just to name a few. For example, in the game below, children fill the chest with words that start with c.

The app also teaches children how to blend sounds together and how to “decode” simple words. (Although, I didn’t get to those levels personally.)

The letters and their sounds are presented to children in a logical sequence that is developmentally appropriate. As children learn about letters and letter sounds, the app guides them with repetition and reinforcement.

Handwriting

Not only will kids learn letter sounds but they’ll also learn to write individual letters and get that practice in context with the right sequence and word. Follow the arrows with your finger to draw each letter.