About Small Universe
Teaching English through play, not homework.
Why we built this
Most language apps for kids are flashcard drills with cartoon paint on top. We wanted a game where kids don't realize they're learning until they already have.
Small Universe started because my own kids hated every English app I tried. So I built one that actually uses the research instead of just citing it on a landing page.
Who writes our guides
Our parent guides are written by Paul B., the founder of Small Universe, who built its curriculum: the 102 lessons, their word lists and their order through the CEFR levels. Each guide names the research it draws on, and comparison guides say plainly that Small Universe is our own app.
The research behind it
The game mechanics come from research on language acquisition and memory, and from child psychology:
Krashen
Comprehensible Input: learning from context instead of translation
Ebbinghaus
Spaced repetition: missed words come back in Matching, and a full-star lesson can be replayed for a gold star 72 hours later
Dweck
Growth mindset: a wrong answer doesn't end the game, and players aged 3 to 5 never lose a heart
Vygotsky
Zone of Proximal Development: harder game types open as a player gets older, and the youngest players get spoken instructions and no hearts to lose
Bjork
Desirable difficulties: missed words come back inside later Matching games, and from age 6 the Game Wheel picks the game for a lesson at random
Nation
Four Strands: the 17 game types cover all four learning strands
By the numbers
Privacy
We designed Small Universe with COPPA in mind. You can play as a guest with no account, and progress stays on the device unless a parent signs in to back it up and sync it. For that, we store the parent's email, plus each profile's name, age, avatar and progress. See our privacy policy for details.
Get in touch
Reach us at hello@smalluni.com or visit our contact page.