Letter Forest · Letter fluency

Balloon Pop

Colourful balloons carry the choices for a spoken prompt. Your child taps the matching balloon, which may show a letter or a short word. The youngest starting rounds use balloon colours instead. In word rounds, the voice also models sounding out the target before your child makes a choice.

Play Balloon Pop free Ages 2–6

Free for every family until 20 November 2026Every game and level. No card needed.

Pop the letter N

Letter balloons O, I, J and N floating up through the sky.
A real screen from the game’s first level.

What it practises

  • Find capital or small letters from spoken prompts
  • Recognise a named colour in younger starting rounds
  • Match a beginning-word clue to a letter
  • Recognise a spoken word among printed word choices

How the levels grow

  1. Seed Level 1
  2. Sprout Level 2
  3. Bloom Level 3
  4. Flourish Level 4
  5. Shine Level 5

Ages 2–4 begin with three colour choices. Levels 2–5 use capitals, widening from A–F to the whole alphabet; four balloons replace three at level 4. Ages 4–6 move through capitals, small letters and beginning-word clues at levels 1–3, with four choices. Levels 4–5 show three word choices. Level 5 tries to include words with the same ending, falling back to different endings when needed. Both word levels speak a sounding-out model.

Ages 2–4 play on the Pre-Nursery path and ages 4–6 on the Kindergarten path. Good play climbs a level; a hard day holds it, and a level earned is never taken away.

What you might notice

  • Does your child listen for a colour, letter or word?
  • In word rounds, which part do they look at first?

Try it at home

Draw three large balloons on one sheet of paper and write a familiar letter inside each. Name one for your child to point to. Use coloured drawings instead for a child exploring colour words. Paper balloons need no real balloons or small parts.

Not in this game: The game does not practise writing words independently.

Home-learning units that use it

Nursery
Letters in My Name First Sounds

More in Letter Forest

  • The letters C, O and D on blue tiles.

    Letter Pop

    Recognise named capital letters

    Ages 2–6

  • Big letters S and X, with a small s and x to drag onto them.

    Letter Match

    Match small letters to their capital partners

    Ages 4–6

  • Two word cards: I and it.

    Sight Words

    Match a spoken word to its written form

    Ages 4–6

Where to start in Letter Forest See all 44 games

Every game is free until 20 November 2026.

Balloon Pop and the other 43 games, every level, with no card and no payment.

Play Balloon Pop free