For parents
A calm first word game for your little reader
Little Tide is the picture-and-sound mode of Wordtide for children aged 3 and up. A friendly otter called Tidy helps them hear letters, trace them with a finger and spell their first words. It is free, with no ads, no chat, no tracking and no timers.
Our promise to families
No ads for kids
Little Tide and kids’ profiles never show ads. Teens and adults may see ads at natural breaks, never mid-move, and watching one for a reward is always your choice.
Nothing to buy for children
No in-app purchases, subscription or loot boxes for children. Little Tide is free, and optional extras exist only for grown-ups.
No tracking for kids
On our website, kids’ profiles load no tracking and no ad code. On game portals we never request ads for kids, but the portal runs its own code around the game. Teens only get non-personalised ads. We never sell your data.
Built with children’s safety in mind
No chat, only friendly preset reactions. Names are filtered, rude words are filtered, and players can report anything we missed.
What Little Tide teaches
- Letter sounds (phonics). Tidy says the sound of a letter, and your child picks the picture that starts with it.
- Letter tracing. Your child traces a letter with a finger. When they have traced it, a picture that starts with that letter pops out. Early levels use capitals and later levels add small letters.
- Picture words. Tidy shows a picture and your child spells it tile by tile, matching the shapes. As they grow, words get longer: from three-letter words to four letters.
- Stickers and a Garden. Every word they finish becomes a sticker, and a flower grows in their Little Tide Garden. There is nothing to buy.
The words come from twelve hand-picked packs of pictures:
- Animals
- Food
- Home
- Clothes
- Play
- Nature
- Places to go
- By the sea
- Me
- Feelings
- Sounds
- Numbers & colours
Screen time that is easy to live with
- No timers, no countdowns and no scores to beat.
- No fail states: there is no way to lose, so there is nothing to feel bad about.
- No loot boxes and nothing to buy.
- Gentle music is off by default, and you can switch off voice and sound in the parent corner.
- A short round fits in a waiting room or before bed, and your child can stop whenever they like.
Kid safety
- No chat. There is no free-text chat anywhere in Wordtide. Little Tide has no social features at all.
- Preset names in kid mode. In Easy mode (the kid mode of the main game), every other player’s name is shown as a friendly preset such as “Adjective Animal”, never as free text typed by a stranger.
- Name reports. If a grown-up spots a name that should not be there, they can report it, choosing from fixed reasons (rude words, mean or bullying, personal information, pretending to be someone). There is no free-text report box, and a reported name is hidden at once on your device. Names are also filtered for inappropriate words.
- Parent gate. Leaving Little Tide, changing settings and saving progress with a passkey or recovery code sit behind a grown-up check: hold a button for three seconds, then answer a written question.
- No links out while your child plays Little Tide, and no ads.
- Safe words. The main game uses the public-domain ENABLE word list with our own blocklist for rude words, and Little Tide uses a hand-picked list of picture words.
Privacy in short
- No ads, no analytics and no third-party trackers in Little Tide or kids’ profiles.
- No sign-up and no email address. We never ask for a child’s name or location.
- Little Tide progress is saved on your device only. If sharing to the Garden is on, only the word itself is sent, as an anonymous count, never a name, text, profile or location.
- We do not sell data or share it for marketing.
Read the full details in our privacy policy. Questions? Contact us.
Bigger kids and the whole family
Children who can already read can use the main game with Easy mode, which has bigger letters and squares. The how to play guide explains the rules. Teachers can find ideas on the teachers page.
Questions
What age is Little Tide for?
Ages 3 and up. It is made for children who cannot read yet: everything is pictures, sounds and a friendly otter called Tidy who speaks to them.
Is there any chat or way to talk to strangers?
No. There is no free-text chat anywhere in Wordtide, and Little Tide has no social features at all. In the main game, players can only send a fixed set of emoji reactions.
Are there ads, in-app purchases or tracking?
Not for children. Little Tide and kids’ profiles (under 13) have no ads, no in-app purchases, no analytics and no third-party trackers. Teens and adults may see ads, and on some platforms grown-ups can buy optional extras; neither is ever shown to children. We do not sell data.
Can my child get stuck or lose?
No. Little Tide has no timers, no scores to beat and no fail states. A tile that does not fit just wobbles, and after a couple of tries Tidy shows which tile comes next. A child can stop at any time.
How does my child leave Little Tide?
Leaving Little Tide and changing settings needs a grown-up check: hold a button for three seconds, then answer a written question. A child who has not learned to read yet cannot pass it.
Does my child need an account?
No. There is no sign-up and we never ask for an email address. Progress in Little Tide is saved on your device only.
How do I delete my child's data?
Little Tide progress lives on the device, and the parent corner can erase all stickers and stars. To delete a player's data from our servers, contact us through the form at wordtide.app/contact with the display name.