SpellTrails
by 
Where learning to spell is an adventure
A spelling adventure for primary school children, from age 5. It identifies their current spelling ability, spots the spelling patterns that are still tricky, and carries their learning on from exactly that point, with every word read aloud in an Australian voice.
No ads · No in-app purchases · No chat · No notifications · No tracking
We mapped the Australian spelling curriculum1 into an immersive world
Each place teaches one spelling skill from the curriculum, like a sound pattern or a rule, and builds on the ones before. A short warm-up finds where your child starts, and they don't pass through a place just once; they come back to keep its words fresh, and to tackle harder words that use what they learned there.
The Jazzy JettyThe last of the alphabet: j, v, w, x, y, z and qu
Hushing Shoresh, ch, th: two letters, one sound
Cape CakeMagic e: cap becomes cape
Rainbow ReachVowel teams: rain, feet, boat
Heart CrossingTricky words, learned by heart
The Whispering CairnSilent letters: knee, write, lamb
The Weird Weirei, ie and ough
Forty places and more than 3,800 words, all read aloud, and nearly all in a sentence too.
Always something new to see
Every place is painted by day, at twilight, in a storm and under the stars, and it throws a festival once it's won. Inside each place are smaller spots to explore, each with its own painted scene.
1 Based on the Australian Curriculum: English, Version 9.0 (ACARA), its Phonic and word knowledge sub-strand. SpellTrails is not endorsed by ACARA.
It finds the pattern behind a tricky word
SpellTrails looks at how each word was spelled, to find the spelling pattern that still needs practice: a vowel team, a silent letter, a suffix. Then it teaches that pattern, not just the one word.
Credit for what they know
It gives credit for what they already know and practises only the pattern that's still tricky. Spell accommodate as “accomodate” and it picks out the doubled m as the pattern to practise until it sticks.
A rule they can use again
Learn the rule behind a place and it works on words they've never seen: magic e, bossy r, a silent k.
Australian, through and through
Spell “color” and Wren says, “That's how Americans spell it. Here we write colour.” They had the right idea, and now they know the difference. UK and US editions, each with its own spellings, are on the way.
“Hi, I'm Wren. I know every word on this road. Come with me!”
Wren, the SpellTrails mascot, walks the trail beside your child, talks them through each short quest and cheers them on, so they're keen to keep going.
Hear it
Each word is read aloud, then used in a sentence, so with words that sound the same, like there and their, it's always clear which one is meant.
Spell it
They type it, in their own time. Spelling a place's words inside whole sentences is how it earns its silver medal.
Got it? Walk on
Each right word carries them further along the trail.
Tricky one? Learn it
A word that slips is taught another way, with a rule card or a sound game, and practised until they know it well. Mini-games gather a few of them together.
Master a place, then meet its boss
Most places end with a boss: Smudge, a cheeky ink-blot. Spell the words to clean the signs he's smudged.
The Writing Desk
Made for the writing in their week: an assignment, a talk for class, a story.
Write it their wayAutocorrect stays out of the way, so they think about the spelling themselves.
Check it, then hand it inWhen they're done, it highlights the words to look at again and asks about homonyms like there and their. They fix each one themselves, and the page is ready to print and hand in.
Tricky words become questsIn the quests that follow, each one comes back as practice, aimed at exactly the pattern to learn.
Finished pages earn stars for their pet. The page itself never leaves their device. What can reach your account is single words, never a sentence, so nothing they wrote can be pieced back together.
Back at Base Camp
An explorer to dress up
Sixteen painted explorers to choose from, then hats, hair, tops and colours, paid for with the stars they earn.
A spellbook of the words they've mastered
Every word they catch goes in their spellbook. Bronze, silver and gold medals mark the words that have truly stuck, and are never taken back. Plus printable word searches, made from the spellbook words they're still practising.
A pet of their own
A pet to play with after a quest: one of twelve, from a puppy to a koala. The stars they earn buy it treats and things for its house, and soon their explorer and pet will head off on mini-games together.
Screen time you can feel good about
Parents see what their child has learned: not a star count, but the words they can spell now and what comes next.
A detailed progress dashboard
Your own view of their spelling: the words they've learned, what they're working on now, and the words turning up in their own writing.
You choose what they practise
Paste in the school's weekly list and its words come first until they're learned, or point them at any spelling idea you like.
Honest about what it knows
When it has only seen a few tries at a pattern, the dashboard says “not enough evidence yet” rather than guessing.
- Every child in the family
- Add it to your home screen
- No ads
- No in-app purchases
- No chat
- No notifications
- No tracking
- No leaderboards
Pricing plans will be announced soon, as part of the launch announcement.
From the founder
I started Concordance Games as a parent. I wanted my kids to get better at spelling as they head toward the exams ahead of them.
I've lived in Australia and the USA, and I know how tricky English spelling can be, and how it changes from one country to the next.
So I wanted something encouraging that makes learning fun, with proper guardrails and privacy built in. That's the standard for every game we make.
AlexanderFounder, Concordance Games
One minute on the trail
Be first on the trail
SpellTrails is nearly ready. Pricing plans will be announced soon, as part of the launch announcement. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment it opens.