Starfall Learn to Read vs Squishy Math Trail

Starfall® Learn to Read is the second step of Starfall’s Learn to Read phonics sequence, which teaches the foundational skills for learning to read. Step 1: ABCs Step 2: Learn to Read Step 3: It’s Fun to Read Step 4: I’m Reading! In Starfall Learn to Read, children explore early phonics in a sequential, stress-free environment. Each step of the learning journey comes to life with help from the Vowel Pals—delightful characters that add depth and personality to each vowel sound. Children develop their phonics skills through the use of CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, sight words, and vowel teams. Mastering the skills taught in Starfall Learn to Read helps children become confident, independent readers. Travel-ready. No internet connection required. Find Starfall Learn to Read, along with 700+ additional activities and counting across reading, math, music, and more in the Starfall app. The Starfall website and applications are program services of Starfall Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) publicly supported nonprofit organization. Starfall® and Starfall.com® are registered trademarks in the US, the European Union, and various other countries. Copyright © 2002–2026 by Starfall Education. All rights reserved. Starfall apps are inclusively designed to support all children, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Starfall also provides an Enhanced Accessible Index for children with visual, hearing, or mobility impairments. For more information, please contact Customer Service at (+1) 303-417-6414.

NO ADS. Nine math worlds, one squishy teacher, and a board game your kid already knows how to play. Your child's squishy puts on a costume and teaches math out loud. Your child does every step with their own fingers — taps each apple, fills each piece of chocolate, fuels the rocket a tenth at a time — then answers five questions. Four right and the skill goes up a level. THE LEARNING CENTER: 9 WORLDS, 12 LEVELS EACH • Apple Orchard — counting: count to 20 by touching, count on, what comes next, skip count by 2s, 5s and 10s up to 1,000. • Balloon Fair — adding: count on to 20, then add up to 1,000 in hops of hundreds, tens and ones. • Pirate Cove — taking away: coins walk the plank; count back in hops up to 1,000. • Cookie Bakery — times: trays of cookies are equal groups; count by 2s, 3s, 4s; times tables to 12 × 12. • Pizza Party — dividing: deal slices onto plates so everyone gets the same; division facts to 144 ÷ 12. • Building Site — shapes: circle to octagon, sides and corners, solid shapes, a cube's faces and edges, distance around, squares inside. • Chocolate Factory — fractions: halves to eighths, compare, equal fractions, add and take away, a fraction of a number. • Rocket Range — decimals: tenths and hundredths, place value, compare, add and take away, times 10, rounding. • Mystery Manor — missing numbers and equations: 3 + ? = 7, times before plus, brackets, then n + 4 = 9 and 2n + 1 = 9 on a balance. STARTS WHERE YOUR CHILD IS • A one-minute check finds the right level in every skill, then gets out of the way. • Each world opens at the right age: taking away at 6, fractions at 7, times and equations at 8, decimals at 9, dividing at 10. Younger kids see "When you're older". • Miss one? The squishy shows the working for that exact problem, then moves on. • The board game and flashcards size their numbers to your child's levels, and push a little harder the further into a game they get. A small tag shows a parent the level. MORE WAYS TO PRACTICE • Story Trail: math as tiny stories with your squishy as the hero. The app picks the numbers; the words come from Apple's on-device model or a built-in word bank. • Flashcards: five right in a row steps up, three wrong steps down. After a miss, a hint says the problem another way (on devices with Apple Intelligence). • Squishy Match: 20 levels. Drag a path through squishies that add up to the target, from Make 5 to Make 50. • Number Slide: slide squishies on a 4×4 board; two the same join into the next number. • Squishy Fishing: answer a math question to reel in each catch. Junk and snacks pay more; a rare Golden Prize pays bonus coins, up to 1,000. • Temperature Chamber: slide Celsius or Fahrenheit and watch your squishy freeze solid or melt into a puddle. • The Trail Game: roll the die, solve a problem, hop up the trail. Two players, two ages, one board. SQUISHIES TO LOVE • Fifteen squishies in ten colors, every one made of wobbly jelly. • Coins from every right answer buy squishies and colors in the shop. • 51 badges in eight ladders, from First Hop to Master Detective. Achievements pay bonus coins. • The Playroom: tap, tickle and dance with your squishy. MADE FOR FAMILIES • No ads. No accounts. No tracking. • Everything stays on the device. • One optional purchase, behind a grown-up check: the Squishy Pack ($0.99, once) opens nine more squishies, five more colors, 5,000 coins for every player, and 15 squishy tricks to buy with coins. • Two tricks, Windy and Boo!, listen for how loud the room is. The microphone is asked for only after a grown-up allows it, and nothing is recorded. • Sound with a one-tap mute; respects the silent switch.