ESL games for kids
ESL games by how much English your child has
| If your child… | Start with | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Knows no English yet | Picture word cards | Trace letters and preschool learning games |
| Knows some words | Food and school cards | Books you can sound out |
| Can read a little | Sight word stories | Typing games and Spelling Bee |
Knows no English yet
Start with pictures and sounds. Nothing on these needs reading: Peabody says the word aloud and the child taps the picture.
| What | What a child does | Ages |
|---|---|---|
| Picture word cards | Peabody says a word, the child taps the matching picture. 22 topics, 12 words each, with a Spanish pair for every word. | 3 to 10 |
| Animals cards | Cat, dog, cow, duck and more: the first words most children want. | 3 to 8 |
| Colors cards | Red, blue, yellow and the rest, shown as swatches. | 3 to 7 |
| Numbers cards | Count the dots and hear the English number. | 3 to 7 |
| Body cards | Head, hand, foot, nose: words a child can point to on themselves. | 3 to 8 |
| Family cards | Mother, father, sister, brother, grandma and more. | 3 to 8 |
| Trace letters | Trace the English capital letters with a finger, starting with the first letter of your name. | 3 to 6 |
| Preschool learning games | Tap-to-play games where every question is said aloud, so no reading is needed. | 3 to 5 |
| Mouse practice | Learn to point, click and drag, with a few English words said along the way. | 3 to 7 |
Knows some English
| What | What a child does | Ages |
|---|---|---|
| Food cards | Words for the table, a good set to practise at mealtimes. | 3 to 9 |
| School cards | Words for the classroom, for a child about to start school in English. | 5 to 10 |
| Feelings cards | Happy, sad, tired, scared: words for saying how you are. | 4 to 10 |
| Books you can sound out | Free picture books from level 0 up, the easiest first, in the English wing of the library. | 4 to 10 |
| Beginning reader books | Short books with few words a page, for the first months of reading. | 4 to 8 |
| Decodable readers | Books made only of sounds a child has been taught, so every word can be sounded out. | 4 to 8 |
Can read a little
| What | What a child does | Ages |
|---|---|---|
| Sight word stories | Stories that repeat the small words children meet most, such as the, said and was. | 5 to 9 |
| Sight word checklist | A checklist of the common words, to tick off as a child learns each one. | 5 to 9 |
| The library | Free stories by reading level, to read alone or aloud, with no account. | 6 to 12 |
| Typing games | Learn the keyboard and spell English words at the same time. | 7 to 12 |
| Wordle for kids | Guess the five-letter word, with short words for younger children. | 7 to 12 |
| Spelling Bee | Spelling words by grade, said aloud, to practise and quiz. | 7 to 12 |
| Grammar, one skill at a time | Eighteen grammar skills, each with a one-sentence definition, examples and three questions with answers. | 6 to 12 |
| Nouns | Words that name a person, a place, an animal or a thing, with three questions to try. | 6 to 10 |
| Verbs | Action words such as run, eat and jump, and the verbs is, am and are. | 6 to 10 |
| Capital letters | Where English uses a capital: the first word, the word I, names, days and months. | 6 to 10 |
| Plural nouns | How English shows more than one: cats, boxes, children. | 6 to 10 |
| Past tense verbs | How English shows that something already happened: played, stopped, ran. | 7 to 11 |
| Contractions | Short forms people say all day: don't, she's, we'll. | 7 to 11 |
| Prepositions | Small words for where and when: in, on, under, before, after. | 7 to 12 |
How to play
Sit next to your child for the first few minutes and say each word after Peabody does. Five to ten minutes a day works better than one long hour. If a word is wrong, nothing bad happens: the card comes round again. By age: 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10.
Everything here is free, with no ads, no sign-up and nothing to download. Nothing about your child is sent anywhere.
Questions parents ask
What are the best games to teach English to a child who knows none?
Picture word cards. Peabody says a word and the child taps the matching picture, so there is nothing to read and nothing to translate. Every word has a Spanish pair for families who speak it.
Do the games work without a good English speaker at home?
Yes. Peabody says every word aloud, in a clear voice, and the child can hear it again as often as they like.
What age are they for?
About 3 to 10. The age pages list what suits each year.
Are they free?
Yes. Everything here is free, with no ads, no sign-up and nothing to download. Nothing about your child is sent anywhere.
Do they need a sign-up or an app?
No. They open in a web browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and a child's progress stays on that device.
Teacher? Share this page to Google Classroom. Children open it with no sign-up.
Checked against how Peabody works on 7 November 2026. Written with help from AI, from Peabody's own code and library. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: if you're worried about your child's learning, talk to their teacher. How Peabody's pages are made.