LearnPlay.ai

Nothing is sent anywhere. This progress copy never includes timers, the evening schedule, voice, motion, drawings, wrong tries, or behavior notes. A separate off-by-default option above can keep only screen limits on this device. Browser data can still be cleared, so use a save code to move or back up progress. On iPad, a Home Screen app keeps storage separate from Safari.

No account or internet needed. Make a save code on this device, then paste it into this same game on the other device. The code carries learning progress, gears, and built Cove friends.

For safety and privacy, it does not carry the play timer, evening schedule, voice or motion choices, drawings, or behavior information. Keep the code private if you prefer to keep Explorer's progress private.

Cobalt's Learning Cove: this is one adaptable learning platform with five grown-up-selected paths. The path changes Home wording, density, and the featured challenge; it never auto-promotes a learner or locks away foundations. Early Explorer remains Explorer's familiar default. The approach is informed by CAST UDL Guidelines 3.0 on learner variability, choice, play, accessible communication, and graduated support.

Family setup and Learning Wishes: a grown-up can choose a display name and sensory-safe color theme for the open session. Optional profile memory is separate and off by default; it stores only those two values in this browser. A structured Learning Wish can route the family to already-built games or a workspace-only guided journey, or be copied manually for the developer team. Journeys sequence existing studios, keep only session state, award nothing, and never read the optional note. The note is never sent, saved, scored, or attached to a child identifier. With a custom display name, Natural Cobalt uses generic friendly narration instead of speaking Explorer's name; Classic Robot may pronounce the chosen name with the device voice.

Product and curriculum boundary: this is an owner-published VR Tabs web beta, adapted from the generic learning game. Play together with a grown-up. It has not been validated by educators or certified for any age group, and is not a complete curriculum or assessment. The built-in learning map is generated from one fixed curriculum registry so every listed studio has a real launch destination, learning area, skill description, and supported path. It describes what exists; it does not claim to complete a grade or diagnose mastery.

Family Library and outside resources: a small, manually reviewed catalog lists provider, age fit, expected use, selection reason, and a caution before each optional destination. It currently points only to PBS KIDS, NASA, Smithsonian, PhET at the University of Colorado Boulder, NOAA, and ReadWriteThink. Links stay disabled until the grown-up check is complete and open outside the game. They are not embedded, automatically played, algorithmically recommended, monitored, or represented as endorsements. The child Home screen has no outside links, advertisements, analytics, purchases, or video embeds.

This Session: the parent menu keeps a private in-memory count of completed practice turns since the page opened, shows at most three plain-language highlights, and offers one deterministic activity for variety. A grown-up may also reveal exactly two calm choices for one more activity or choose Done for now to use the familiar calm session ending; the child Home screen does not change, and nothing starts or stops merely because the choices were revealed. Wrong tries, hints, time, behavior, speech, and drawings are never counted. The snapshot and optional choices clear on reload, are excluded from save codes and device memory, and are not a developmental assessment. All-progress totals remain available underneath. This strengths-based, accessible family view is informed by Head Start family engagement and ongoing assessment, its ongoing assessment guidance, and the accurate, appealing, accessible, audience-specific sharing framework. The game is not a validated assessment tool.

How it teaches: Letter Sounds and Sound Hunt’s Letter Hunt name one capital letter and connect it to an anchor picture—“S is for snake.” Sound Hunt’s Same Start trail keeps the anchor visible, then asks for a second whole word beginning the same way. Word Machine names each selected capital letter once from left to right, then reads the whole word. Robot Writing and replay/help buttons use the same consistent model, with no stretched or repeated letter sounds.

Same Start: twelve fixed, picture-supported pairs practice common consonant beginnings without isolated stretched phonemes. The first capital stays highlighted in the model; choices never shuffle; after two tries, the matching picture and its first capital glow. This progression follows the Head Start preschool literacy framework, which includes supported recognition of words beginning with the same sound, and the strong-evidence letter-and-sound recommendation in the IES/WWC Preparing Young Children for School guide.

Optional play timer: screen limits are off by default. If a grown-up turns the timer on, it runs cumulatively across the whole app and does not reset when games change. Calm warnings come with 5, 2, and 1 minute left. At zero, Explorer may finish the current turn before a movement-break screen appears.

Simple screen-limit controls: after the deliberate grown-up hold, one labeled Play timer selector and one labeled Evening schedule selector each include Off and every available value. This removes the old checkbox-plus-second-menu sequence without changing any limit, memory, or privacy behavior. The native, explicitly labeled controls follow W3C WAI form-label guidance and USWDS select guidance.

Calm, predictable motivation: each solved learning turn earns its fixed authored gears. There are no hidden correct-answer streaks, surprise consecutive-play bonuses, daily-return rewards, or penalties for a mistake. The finished-session screen offers off-screen ideas and keeps any extension behind neutral Grown-up options, with Keep resting first.

Number Reef has two predictable trails. Count & Solve moves through one-to-one counting to 5, counting to 10, addition within 5, and subtraction within 5. More, Fewer & Same teaches quantity comparison with two visible reefs. Every puzzle and answer position is fixed; a strategy sentence stays visible. The progression follows the Head Start preschool mathematics framework, the IES early-math toolkit, and IES Teaching Math to Young Children. Robot Writing also includes the numbers 0–9 after the uppercase letters.

Predictable practice: unfinished learning rounds rebuild the same choices in the same places in Word Machine, Word Fishing, Sound Hunt, Rhyme Match, and Discovery Find It. A choice changes only when progress advances or a category changes. Celebrations and open-ended art may still vary. This follows Head Start guidance on predictable routines, CAST UDL guidance on varying novelty and predictability, and the National Autistic Society's individualized guidance on predictability.

Calm choice shelves: Age 3 Starter opens with four large first choices: Letter Sounds, Number Reef, Drawing Reef, and Discovery Dock. More reveals the full familiar catalog and its fixed Words, Think, Make, and Care shelves; other learning paths still open with the full catalog. This temporary view does not rank, score, store, or remove any activity. This applies CAST UDL guidance on varying how many visual items are presented, Head Start visual-support guidance, and the National Autistic Society's guidance on structure and involving the autistic person in choices.

Story Time has three visible trails. Tap & Read keeps the familiar seventeen sentences and teaches left-to-right word tracking. Story Steps keeps twelve fixed three-event stories in FIRST, THEN, LAST order. Listen & Find adds twelve fixed two-sentence scenes with one literal who, what, or where question; the whole story stays visible, and after two different tries both the supporting words and answer glow. This follows the Head Start preschool language progression, the Head Start preschool literacy framework, the Head Start language and literacy guides, the IES/WWC shared-reading recommendation, and the Harvard Center on the Developing Child executive-function activities guide.

Rhyme Time has two listen-first trails. Rhyme Match keeps the familiar same-ending game. Word Beats adds twelve fixed one-, two-, and three-syllable words; Explorer says a word slowly, then chooses 1, 2, or 3 beats. Hear reveals the word chunks and models the answer, and after two tries the right number glows. This larger-sound-unit practice follows the Head Start preschool literacy framework, the IES foundational-skills practice guide, and Reading Rockets preschool guidance.

Shape & Pattern Reef has two visible, teach-first trails. Shapes & Sorting keeps its twenty-eight fixed rounds for shape names and attributes, matching, patterns, comparisons, color words, and one-rule sorting. Where Is It? adds twelve fixed rounds for on, under, inside, outside, above, below, next to, between, in front of, behind, near, and far. Color rounds carry stable symbol cues; position rounds depend on layout rather than color. Choices never shuffle, there is no losing, and the answer glows after two tries. The progression follows the Head Start preschool mathematics framework, NAEYC shape-and-space guidance, NAEYC spatial-thinking guidance, and the IES early-math family guide.

Music Reef has two calm modes. Echo Game builds auditory memory with real two-, three-, and four-note tunes. After two different taps, the next sound glows and plays again so he always succeeds. Free Play has no quiz at all — every pad makes a soft pentatonic sound, so combinations stay pleasant.

Drawing Reef builds fine-motor control, creativity, color vocabulary, and early shape/counting ideas without judging the picture. Discovery Dock teaches animal, vehicle, and country names in Explore mode, then offers an errorless “Find It” game.

Rescue Reef teaches listening comprehension, animal and color words, and six real habitat relationships. The clue teaches the answer before Explorer chooses; after two tries the matching home glows. Habitat wording was checked against NOAA seagrass guidance, NOAA tide-pool guidance, and Smithsonian Ocean.

Cobalt's Care Quest has two calm, non-scored trails. Everyday Choices keeps its ten short visual stories about body care, rest, safety, communication, taking turns, boundaries, repair, and movement. Feelings & Needs adds twelve explicit stories for happy, excited, sad, mad, frustrated, worried, scared, tired, hungry, thirsty, sound discomfort, and “I don't know.” The story names Cobalt's feeling or body message before asking; Explorer is never expected to diagnose a feeling from a face. Saying, pointing, signing, or tapping all count. There are no gears or performance streaks because communication and safety are not prizes. Play it while calm, then practice one useful phrase with a grown-up away from the screen.

Learning paths: the familiar Early Explorer game remains the default. A grown-up can also open Foundation Builder, Skill Builder, Big Thinker, or Teen Lab. Choose the path that fits the learner today—not a birthday or label. Moving back to foundations is always okay, and the game never promotes a child automatically. Brain Lab has twelve stable challenges per advanced path across quantitative reasoning, science, literacy/evidence, and chess thinking; the original games stay available at every level.

Optional device memory: Parent options has three separate controls, all off by default. One can remember the checksummed learning and Cove progress; one can remember only the chosen play timer, evening schedule, and one replaceable running-timer deadline; and Family setup can remember only the learner display name and color theme. None sends anything anywhere or saves drawings, wrong tries, behavior notes, learning wishes, or activity history. Turning a control off removes only its own saved copy without changing the open session. Browser data can be cleared or evicted, and an iPad Home Screen app has storage separate from Safari, so device Screen Time is the stronger backstop.

Progress transfer: the parent menu can make a private save code for moving or backing up learning and Cove progress between this computer and an iPad. It works without an account or cloud service. Restoring requires the grown-up word. Device-specific safety and comfort choices are deliberately excluded, so a restored code never turns on a timer or evening schedule.

Why paths instead of age locks: the CAST Universal Design for Learning Guidelines treat learner variability as normal and support meaningful choice, multiple ways to engage, and adjustable challenge. Brain Lab begins a coherent skill progression informed by the Common Core mathematics standards and Next Generation Science Standards; it is enrichment practice, not a complete curriculum, grade placement, or replacement for teachers.

Designed for predictable learning: predictable visual timing, no losing, no sudden noises, and Calm Motion on by default. The FIRST–THEN strip makes every transition visible. Wrong answers just get a wiggle and hint, every screen keeps the same layout, and gears are never taken away. Larger celebrations automatically become quieter and simpler in Calm Motion.

Safe handoffs: leaving a game cancels that game’s delayed screen changes. An interrupted Adventure Quest pauses on its next step, and the Home card becomes Continue Adventure. Quest and Cove bonuses are earned immediately and only their optional celebrations wait, so an old timer cannot add gears to newly restored progress.

Calm Break: the 💙 button immediately ends the play session and replaces the game with very few words, safe-hands language, and off-screen co-regulation choices. Three optional cards can visibly share “Help, please,” “Space, please,” or “Quiet, please” without solving a task. The break does not score, punish, lecture, or require communication while Explorer is upset. Returning requires the grown-up word and starts a shorter 10-minute calm session.

Optional sleep protection: the evening screen-off schedule is off by default. If a grown-up enables it, the game blocks new games from the chosen time until 6:00 AM by the computer's clock and ends a timed session at that boundary. Set it at least one hour before Explorer's actual bedtime. A 3–5-year-old generally needs 10–13 total hours of sleep in 24 hours, including any nap; the game does not pressure or reward napping.

Tips: use the same transition words each session: “First game, then body break.” Let him finish the current turn unless safety requires stopping now. If he is already overwhelmed, use few words, put the screen down, create space, and bring in a calm grown-up. Do not use the game as a reward for stopping aggression.

Important: this game cannot assess or treat meltdowns, aggression, pain, or sleep problems. Frequent physical aggression and ongoing sleep disruption deserve a prompt discussion with Explorer's pediatrician and autism care team so they can assess triggers, communication needs, discomfort, sleep, and safety across settings.

Research basis: current American Academy of Pediatrics guidance emphasizes media quality, context, co-use, and protecting sleep, movement, play, and relationships—not treating a birthday as a universal device threshold. The World Health Organization supports limited, high-quality preschool media. AAP sleep guidance recommends screens off at least one hour before bed. AASM recommends 10–13 hours of sleep for ages 3–5. NICE autism guidance supports visual structure, sensory adjustments, trigger assessment, and minimising unpredictability. Care Quest follows AAP calm teaching and modeling guidance, AAPD toothbrushing guidance, CDC healthy-routine guidance, and ASHA's multimodal communication guidance.

Feelings and communication basis: Head Start recommends accepting and naming feelings and using words, pictures, stories, and games to build vocabulary while asking rather than assuming a child's real-life feeling. National Autistic Society communication guidance supports visual information, processing time, short concrete language, limited choices, and non-spoken communication. ASHA AAC guidance recognizes gestures and pointing to pictures or words as communication and recommends individualized professional guidance when an AAC system is needed. AAP autism support guidance emphasizes developmentally appropriate, individualized, non-aversive functional communication support.

Narration disclosure: Cobalt's narrator is AI-generated, not a human recording. It was generated locally with the Apache-2.0 Kokoro-82M v1.0 model through the MIT-licensed kokoro-onnx runtime, then bundled as ordinary MP3 audio.

Open-source credits: Drawing Reef uses Atrament 5.1.0 by Jakub Fiala (MIT). Discovery pictures and art stamps are unmodified OpenMoji 17 graphics by the OpenMoji contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0). Phonics order draws on the MIT-licensed Buzzphonics project. The pictures and drawing tools are included. Natural narration downloads from VR Tabs as needed; this web edition needs an internet connection for uncached recordings.