Sound Sanctuary · Syllables & word building

Word Builder

A round may show a picture with a clap button, several picture choices or empty boxes for letters. Your child listens, then counts spoken beats, chooses a blended word or drags letters into place. The band and level decide which activity appears, so the youngest players stay with listening and counting.

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

How many claps in “dinosaur”?

A dinosaur with its word, a Clap it! button, and the numbers 1, 2 and 3.
A real screen from the game’s first level.

What it practises

  • Count the spoken beats in a word
  • Blend a beginning sound with a word ending
  • Arrange letters to spell a pictured three-letter word

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 count syllables throughout: words can have up to two beats at levels 1–2, three at levels 3–4 and four at level 5. Ages 4–6 start with syllables, then blend at levels 2–3. Level 2 uses selected sustained beginning sounds; level 3 opens the full bank and uses same-ending alternatives when available. Levels 4–5 use three letter boxes. Level 5 adds two extra letter tiles to the ones needed for the word.

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 count each spoken beat once?
  • In letter rounds, do they check the next empty box?

Try it at home

Say a familiar word such as banana and clap its spoken beats together. Let your child join or watch. For an older child working with letters, write cat on paper, say it together and point to the letters in order without requiring copying.

Not in this game: The game does not practise spelling longer words or writing letters by hand.

More in Sound Sanctuary

  • Pictures of a bee, a king and the sun.

    Rhyme Time

    Listen for matching endings in spoken words

    Ages 4–6

  • Two baskets, rhymes with dog and rhymes with goat, and a frog, a log, a coat and a boat to sort.

    Rhyme Families

    Group spoken words by their rhyming endings

    Ages 2–6

  • Pictures of the sun, a ball and a hat.

    Sound Start

    Link a letter to the beginning of a picture word

    Ages 4–6

  • Pictures of a log, a bus and a hat.

    Sound Hunt

    Identify ending sounds and matching middle vowels

    Ages 4–6

Every game is free until 20 November 2026.

Word Builder and the other 43 games, every level, with no card and no payment.

Play Word Builder free