About Us

I’m Pete and I’m a dad of five-year-old twins. As a developer by trade, I built these games because I wanted a fun way to support what my two were learning at school, so we could practise together at home. I noticed that my girls were always curious about the games I’d play on my phone like Squaredle and Wordle and realised that they wanted versions of their own.

I started with Fredle, which follows the phonics framework from their school to help them find words and sounds that they are learning. My girls soon wanted more, so we now have games for maths, languages, geography and more. With a range of games on different topics, you may also find yourself wanting to play them alongside your little ones (we do!).

About Fredle

Fredle is a no-ads daily word puzzle for children aged 4 to 7 who are learning to read with phonics. Each day you get a fresh 3×3 grid of letters. To play, simply trace a path through connected tiles to spell real words.

It’s a bit like the adult word puzzle Squaredle, but every word in Fredle’s dictionary is based on the Speed Sounds curriculum used in most UK schools, so the puzzles match exactly what your child is learning at school. Instead of finding words like ‘Iota’, kids can find age-appropriate words like ‘cat’ or ‘moon’ that suit their reading level. Tadpole Games is made by parents for parents.

Who Fredle is for

• Reception children (age 4–5) working on Set 1 Speed Sounds — can use Set 1 mode.
• Year 1 children (age 5–6) starting Set 2 digraphs and the Phonics Screening Check — Set 2 mode.
• Year 2 children (age 6–7) working through Set 3 alternative spellings — Set 3 mode.
• SEN learners who need a calm, repeatable phonics game without flashing rewards or in-app purchases.
• Parents whose child has finished the Teach Your Monster to Read journey and wants something that still fits their school phonics curriculum.

How to play

• To play the game, press down on a letter and drag across connected tiles to spell a word. Tapping alone will not work.
• Start in Set 1 if you’re not sure. It’s fine for adults too — you’ll find you can race them on the bonus words.
• Sound it out aloud. Point at each tile as you trace — “c–a–t, cat!” That’s sound blending in action.
• Celebrate the struggle. If your child gets a word wrong, ask them to try sounding each tile. Don’t just tell them the answer — the decoding is the learning.
• Play once a day. The daily puzzle changes at midnight, so it becomes a small ritual like the school register. If you want to play a new game, you can upgrade your membership.
• Switch sets when they’re ready. If they’re finishing Set 1 quickly with time to spare, bump to Set 2 and watch them puzzle over the digraphs.

Why a word-trace puzzle helps with phonics

Most phonics apps teach sounds in isolation: tap the picture that starts with /s/, trace the letter, match the sound. Fredle does something different — it asks your child to apply the sounds they already know with a fun, challenging puzzle. They have to:

• Scan the grid for familiar graphemes. “Can I see an igh here? An ee?”
• Blend sounds into words. Dragging a path is a tactile version of sounding out — each tile is a sound, and sliding to the next is blending.
• Spot real words inside letter soup, which strengthens the sight/decoding loop.
• Find more than the target. Bonus words reward curiosity and introduce vocabulary just beyond the child’s current set.

It’s the same reason Countdown and word-search puzzles work: a constrained goal with many paths in. Short daily play (5–10 minutes) builds fluency far better than a long session once a week.

If your child loves Ms Rachel, Alphablocks or Blippi — this is what’s next

Fredle is designed for the child who has already fallen in love with learning through Ms Rachel’s Songs for Littles, CBeebies’ Alphablocks and Numberblocks, Blippi, Cocomelon, Hey Duggee, Mr Tumble (Justin Fletcher) or Bluey. Those shows lay the foundation brilliantly — warm, calm, phonics-aware, parent-approved. But eventually a child aged 4 and up needs somewhere to do the learning rather than only watch it.

That’s what Fredle gives them. The same child-centric, parent-trusted spirit — no flashing ads, no loot boxes, no “upgrade to continue” popups, no creepy character begging for a subscription — applied to a real phonics workout. Ms Rachel teaches a child that c–a–t says cat; Alphablocks shows them the sounds dancing together; Fredle asks them to find those words themselves, hidden in a grid, once a day.

Made by a UK parent, not a venture-backed studio.

Set 1 Speed Sounds — Reception phonics game

Set 1 mode uses words built only from the 31 Set 1 sounds: the single letter sounds (m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h sh r j v y w z x) plus the “special friends” sh, th, ch, ck, ng, nk and qu. Typical words your child can decode: cat, dog, jump, black, chick, quick, thing, sting, bank. If your child is sounding out letters at school (c–a–t, cat), Set 1 is the right level for reinforcement at home.

Set 2 Speed Sounds — Year 1 phonics game

Set 2 introduces the first ten vowel digraphs: ay, ee, igh, ow (as in blow), oo (as in too), oo (as in book), ar, or, air, ir. Fredle’s Set 2 mode includes Set 1 words plus Set 2 decodable words such as play, tree, night, moon, book, park, fork, hair, bird. This matches where most Year 1 children are in the run-up to the Phonics Screening Check in the summer term.

Set 3 Speed Sounds — Year 2 phonics game

Set 3 covers the remaining graphemes — the split digraphs a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, plus ea, aw, are, ur, oi, ai, oa, ew, er, ire, ear, ure, and ow (as in cow). Set 3 mode adds words like snake, dream, train, shore, hurt, coin, glue, shire. This is typically where children are in Year 2.

Red Words (tricky words)

The term “Red Words” refers to common words that can’t be sounded out using the standard rules (for example the, said, you, was, because). Fredle treats Red Words as bonus finds — they’re never part of the main word count, but spotting one in the grid gives a little extra celebration. This mirrors the way schools teach these words separately, as words to learn by sight.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fredle free?

A daily Fredle and Sumdle game is free, so you can enjoy playing the games with your children without having to log-in or pay. We do offer a paid subscription or membership, which gives you access to all games and allows you to play as many Fredle and Sumdle games as you like.

How much is a subscription?

For less than the price of a flat white a month, you can subscribe to Tadpole Games for £3. Alternatively, you can pay £19.99 annually. As we’ve just launched, we’re offering a special Founding Frog membership where you can get lifetime access for £19.99.

Is Fredle affiliated with any phonics programme?

No — Fredle is an independent project. Its word list has been classified against the Speed Sounds curriculum used in many UK primary schools so the puzzles align with what children are learning in class, but it is not affiliated with any publisher or phonics programme provider.

I cannot select a word or number

Fredle and Sumdle use a select and drag motion. To complete a word or sum, press down on the first letter or number and drag it across the letters you want to use.

What ages is it suitable for?

Set 1 works from roughly age 4, Set 2 from age 5–6, Set 3 from age 6–7. Many children play above their school level because Fredle lets them discover words rather than be tested on them.

How is it different from Reading Eggs, Teach Your Monster to Read, Hooked on Phonics or ABCmouse?

Those are curriculum-style apps with lots of mini-games, characters and progress paths. Fredle is a single, sharp puzzle mechanic — closer to Wordle or Squaredle in spirit — that assumes your child is already learning phonics elsewhere and wants something to practise on. It pairs well with any of the structured programmes. It’s also deliberately challenging, making it fun for adults too.

Why is my child’s word not accepted?

Fredle uses a child-safe subset of the NWL2023 word list filtered to common words only. If something obvious is missing, it’s likely been judged too obscure for the target age. Proper nouns and rude words are also excluded.

Is there an app?

We are currently working on developing an app, so that you can play in offline mode. Watch this space!

More from Tadpole Games

• Sumdle — a daily maths puzzle on the same trace-the-grid mechanic. Drag two digits and an operator to make the target number.
• Flagle — the picture-led country-flag game in the same gentle progression style.
• Spanish Flagle — match a flag from one of the 21 Spanish-speaking countries to a landmark, food, person or map.
• Flowerdle — drag each flower across to its leaf and learn common UK plants by sight.
• Leafdle — name the flower from a real photograph.
• Spanish Words — tap the flag to hear a Spanish word, then tap the matching picture.
• Spanishdle — hear a Spanish word from a native voice and tap the photo that matches.