Interactive Simulations¶
This section contains MicroSims - interactive educational simulations designed to help kindergarten students learn reading skills through hands-on exploration.
Start with the Reading Progress Path
For the best experience, use the Reading Progress Path to navigate through all MicroSims. It opens each activity in a new tab and tracks your progress with stars. This helps students see their learning journey and keeps track of which activities they've completed.
What are MicroSims?¶
MicroSims are small, focused interactive simulations that teach specific reading skills. Each MicroSim uses p5.js for graphics, Web Speech API for audio, and provides immediate feedback to keep young learners engaged.
Letter Recognition¶
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Click letters to hear their names and sounds with speech synthesis. Toggle between uppercase and lowercase. -
Match uppercase letters to their lowercase partners with drag-and-drop connections. -
Find and click target letters hidden among other letters in a playful search-and-find game. -
Trace letters with finger or mouse to learn proper letter formation and stroke order.
Phonemic Awareness¶
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Listen to a word and identify the first sound from multiple picture choices. -
Count phonemes in spoken words by tapping or clicking for each sound heard. -
Count words in sentences by tapping once per word, teaching one-to-one correspondence. -
Match words that rhyme together in a fun drag-and-drop pairing game.
Letter-Sound Correspondence¶
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Click consonant letters to hear their most common sound with example words and pictures. -
Interactive vowel chart showing short and long sounds with visual and audio examples. -
Hear a sound and click the letter that makes it—the inverse of letter-to-sound practice. -
Virtual keyboard that plays letter sounds when keys are pressed for playful exploration.
Blending¶
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Drag letters to build consonant-vowel-consonant words with audio blending support. -
Blend vowel-consonant combinations as a stepping stone to full CVC word reading. -
Slide through sounds to blend them into words using a visual slider control. -
Factory-themed animation where sounds go in and blended words come out.
Sight Words¶
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Interactive flashcards for high-frequency Dolch sight words with audio pronunciation. -
Match pairs of sight word cards in a classic memory game with three difficulty levels. -
Listen and find sight words on a bingo card—combining listening and visual recognition.
Multi-Skill Games¶
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Build and sound out made-up CVC words to practice pure decoding without context clues. -
Associate body movements with letter shapes for kinesthetic learning and movement breaks. -
Visual journey through all reading skills with progress tracking and skill connections.
Developer Tools¶
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Interactive visualization of the learning graph showing concept dependencies. -
Testbed for celebration animations used to reward student achievements. -
Demonstrates shared animation library modules for MicroSim development.
See Shared Animation Library for reusable celebration effects.
Reusable Patterns¶
Several MicroSims include reusable code patterns that can be adapted for new simulations:
- Celebration Animations - Sparkles, confetti, star effects for rewards
- Audio Feedback - Correct/incorrect sounds, success fanfares using Web Audio API
- Speech Synthesis - Letter sounds, word pronunciation, instructions
- Drag and Drop - Touch-friendly tile manipulation
- Progress Tracking - Stars, counters, completion states
List of Possible MicroSims¶
See the List of Possible MicroSims for additional ideas and proposed simulations.