Free preschool games: letters and numbers with Biby the fox
BibyGames is a small game for children aged 3 to 7 that introduces letters and numbers through play. Their guide is Biby the fox. She says everything out loud, so the child doesn't need to read. There is not a single word of text in the game, only pictures, voice and touch.
Play the game How to put it on the tablet home screen
Free, no ads, no sign-up. After the first load it works without an internet connection. Biby speaks American English or Czech; you can switch the language at the bottom of the game menu.
What the game teaches
Two games with seven modes in total. Nothing is rushed, nothing is timed and mistakes are never punished. Biby just encourages the child to try again and gives a hint after the second mistake. For every finished round the child gets stars, and now and then a sticker for the album.
Letters
Explore
A wall of all 26 letters. The child taps whatever they like and Biby says the name of the letter and a word that starts with it (“M is for mouse”). Nothing is scored, so there is no way to get it wrong.
Find
Biby asks for a letter and the child picks it from three cards. From the second round on there are four cards, and look-alike letters start showing up among them.
Trace
Biby says a letter and the child traces it with a finger along the dots, stroke by stroke. Capital letters A–Z. You can't make a mistake here; every finished tracing counts.
Biby says the letter names, not phonics sounds, and Z is “zee.” The words that go with the letters were chosen for English, from apple, balloon and cat all the way to xylophone, yeti and zebra.
Numbers
Explore
Ten digits, 1–10. After a tap, a big digit appears in the middle with exactly that many objects around it. Biby names the number and then counts the objects out loud with the child.
Count
A pile of apples, ducks or toy cars sits on the screen. The child can tap them one by one (every tap is counted out loud) and then picks the right number out of three at the bottom.
Find
Biby says a number and the child finds it. Same idea as with letters: three cards at first, later four, including digits that look alike.
Trace
Digits 1–10 traced with a finger along the dots. Practice for the shape of each digit and for fine motor skills, with no pressure to perform.
What age it is for
The game is built for preschoolers from about 3 to 7. The youngest are happy with the Explore modes, where nothing is scored and the child just discovers. Older kids enjoy Find and Count, where the difficulty rises by itself depending on how they are doing: the game remembers what the child already knows and more often picks what still needs practice. Trace is a good fit once the child starts to wonder how letters are written.
How to put the game on the tablet home screen
BibyGames is not in the App Store or on Google Play. It is a web app. You add it to the home screen as an icon, and from then on it opens full screen like any other app, even without internet.
iPad / iPhone (Safari)
- Open www.bibygames.com in Safari and let the game load completely once (it downloads the voice and pictures, about 20 MB).
- Tap the Share icon (a square with an arrow pointing up).
- Choose Add to Home Screen and confirm with Add.
- A Biby icon appears on the home screen. Start the game from it and it opens full screen in landscape.
Android tablet / phone (Chrome)
- Open www.bibygames.com in Chrome and let the game load completely once.
- Tap the three dots in the top right corner.
- Choose Add to Home screen (or Install app) and confirm.
- The Biby icon is on the home screen, and the game opens full screen from it.
Tip: the first launch has to be online. After that the game runs from the device's storage: in the car, on a plane or at a cabin with no signal. New versions download by themselves in the background once the device is connected again.
Privacy
- No sign-up. The game simply starts.
- No data collected about the child. The game has no server to send progress or anything else about the child to. I measure anonymous traffic only (Google Analytics in cookieless mode) to know how many people open and start the game. Nothing about the child or their progress is ever sent anywhere.
- Progress stays on the device. Stars, stickers and what the child already knows are saved in the browser's storage. If you want to move progress to another tablet, you copy it in the parent settings and paste it on the other device.
- No ads and no purchases.
Parent lock and statistics
There is a small gear icon in the corner of the menu. A short tap does nothing (so the child won't open it by accident); holding it for 2 seconds opens the parent settings. It is the only place in the game with text. You will find:
- Overview – a grid of letters and numbers: green = mastered, yellow = in progress, orange = needs practice. Each item shows the number of attempts and the most common mix-up (what the child confuses with what).
- History – the first-try success rate over the last 14 days and a list of recently finished rounds with their stars.
- Records – total stars, the longest streak of first-try correct answers, the number of rounds and stickers, the fastest round without a mistake and the best result in each mode.
- Moving progress between devices (Copy progress / Load progress), Erase progress, the Share the game button and the version number.
Progress is shared between the two languages, so switching from English to Czech or back doesn't reset anything.
Common questions
How much does BibyGames cost?
Nothing. The game is free and complete. There is no paid version, nothing to unlock and no in-game purchases.
Are there ads in the game?
No. There are no ads, no purchases and no links leading out of the children's part of the game.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, but it is designed for a tablet in landscape. On a phone the canvas shrinks and the cards get small for little fingers. The game looks best on an iPad or an Android tablet.
Can you play on a computer with a mouse?
Yes. The game runs in a regular browser and is controlled by tapping, so clicking with a mouse works too. Tracing feels more natural with a finger on a touchscreen, but it can be done with a mouse.
Which languages does the game speak?
American English and Czech. The game picks the language of your device. You can switch it at the bottom of the game menu, with the small “Česky · English” switch next to the About link. Progress is shared between the two languages.
How do I erase progress and start over?
In the menu, hold the gear icon for 2 seconds to open the parent settings. The Erase progress button is at the bottom.
Why isn't the fox talking?
Most often the device is muted (on an iPad, check the side switch or Control Center). The voice is downloaded on the first launch, which has to happen online; after that it is stored on the device. If the game has been sitting on the loading screen for a while, wait for the download to finish.
How can I support BibyGames?
The biggest help is passing the game along (there is a Share the game button in the parent settings) and sending feedback through the envelope icon in the menu. You can also support the running costs with a voluntary contribution.
How do I send feedback?
There is an envelope icon in the corner of the menu that opens a short form. The form labels are in Czech, but feel free to write in English. Tell me what your child likes, what doesn't work or what would be good to add.