Shapes, letters, numbers and the world around us Oblici, slova, brojevi i svet oko nas
For parents · Za roditelje
Learning games for first grade
Malo čudo · Školica is a set of free learning games for children aged 6 to 7, built on the Serbian first-grade curriculum. The mascot Kockica reads every question aloud, so children can play before they can read. Children can play in English or in Serbian.
What children practise
Shapes: lines and shapes, position in space, solid shapes, symmetry, measuring and patterns.
Letters: Cyrillic and Latin script, vowels, the first letter of a word, building and reading words, tracing letters with a finger.
Numbers: counting and comparing to 20, adding and subtracting to 20, numbers to 100, tens and ones, money (dinars) and story problems.
The world around us: times of day, days, months and seasons, the clock, living and non-living things, animals, plants, senses and the body, materials, road safety, health, feelings and family.
How the games help
The difficulty adapts to each child, aiming for about 8 of 10 tasks right on the first try. A child who already knows it all gets harder tasks after just a few.
Children who find first grade easy unlock a master level with second-grade tasks: adding and subtracting to 100 across tens, two-step problems, change, longer words, reading sentences, quarter hours.
Lightning round: a 60-second race in sums and reading, in which children try to beat their own record.
Tricky items come back more often, and spaced review and a daily mix help children remember what they learned.
After two mistakes the right answer starts to glow: a hint, not the answer.
After about 20 minutes of play, Kockica suggests a short movement break.
Privacy
No ads, no accounts, no tracking. Progress is stored only on this device. After the first visit the games also work offline.
Settings apply to the current app language (SR or EN button in the header). Serbian and English remember their own voice.
No Serbian voice on this device?
Best on a computer: open the app in Microsoft Edge. It has free "Online (Natural)" neural voices; look for Serbian, Croatian (Gabrijela, Srećko) or Bosnian (Vesna, Goran) and press Try.
Android: Settings → Text-to-speech → Google speech services → install Serbian (choose the higher-quality voice).
Desktop Chrome usually has no Serbian voice at all; use Edge instead.
How the app teaches
Four subjects, built on the Serbian 1st-grade program (1. razred):Oblici (shapes and space, 7 levels), Slova (letters and words), Brojevi (counting and comparing to 20, + and − to 20 also across ten, numbers to 100, tens and ones, the 100 chart, dinars, story problems) and Svet oko nas (times of day, days, months and seasons, clocks, living and non-living, animals, plants, senses and body, materials, road safety, health, feelings, family). Switch subjects at the top of the map.
Letters and scripts: letters follow the SR/EN button. In Serbian you can pick Latinica (abeceda) or Ćirilica (azbuka, as in 1st grade at school; Latin comes in 2nd grade) on the map or below. Letters use Andika, a font made for beginning readers.
Visual models from math education research: ten-frames (see 5 and 10 at a glance, "make ten" for 8 + 5), the number line, number bonds, bundles of ten sticks and coins. Story problems are read aloud, so he practises math, not reading.
Map: every game is a stop on one path. A stop is a short run of 5 tasks: 3 stars with no mistakes, 2 stars with 3–4 first-try answers, otherwise 1. Kockica stands at the suggested next stop; all stops stay open.
Hints, not answers: after two misses in a task, the right answer starts to glow; after a third it is clearly marked. The task then counts as "not first try".
Spaced review: every game has a review box (Leitner). The first try of each day moves it up (review later) or down (review sooner). Practice → Daily mix picks the games that are due, interleaved, plus one new game.
Retrieval practice:Word cards show a picture first; he says the word aloud, then checks and marks "I knew it" or "Still learning".
Adaptive difficulty: every game has a skill rating that moves after each task (right first time, how quickly, one slip or more). It aims for about 8 of 10 tasks right on the first try: hard enough to grow, easy enough to stay confident. Inside a run, two hard tasks in a row make the next one easier, three first-try answers in a row make it harder. Quick placement: in the first four tasks of a game every first-try answer moves the rating half a level, so a child who already knows it reaches the hardest tasks within one run instead of sitting through a dozen easy ones. A new game starts near his level in that subject (or, a little lower, near his level in the others). Speed is measured from the moment the question has been read out.
Master level (4): numbers, letters and the time games have a fourth level beyond the 1st-grade program for children who find level 3 easy: + and − to 100 across a ten, skip counting, balance equations (8 + 7 = 10 + ?), two-step story problems, change, ten more / ten less, the 100 chart, longer words, two missing letters, reading short true-or-false sentences, quarter hours, "in three days" and "five months ago". Master tasks show a crown.
Lightning round: under Practice (Numbers and Letters) a 60-second race: as many quick sums or reading tasks as possible, getting harder after every five right answers in a row. It builds fluency and is a fun way to beat a personal record; the records are shown under Progress.
Item memory: the app remembers single letters, number facts and words. Ones he finds tricky come back more often, known ones less; you can see them under Progress.
Focused pages: Map, Learn and Practice show one subject at a time (the switcher at the top). Daily mix mixes all subjects; Mix practises only the current one. Word cards now include numbers and come mostly from the current subject.
Against boredom: every game mixes several task types; a run of five often includes a golden task from another game he already knows (bonus star). If he starts guessing (quick wrong taps) Kockica pauses and reads the question again; if nothing happens for 25 seconds she nudges him. After a run with guessing or drifting she suggests a different game or a bonus game; if a game is already too easy, something harder. You can see these signs under Progress.
Brain breaks: short movement breaks after about 20 minutes of active play help attention at this age; you can change or turn them off below.
Mastery: a crown appears when a game's skill is at level 3 and its review box is 3 or higher.
Effort praise: when he keeps trying after mistakes, Kockica praises the effort, not just the result. The turtle button repeats any question slowly.
Difficulty
In automatic mode each game has its own skill rating (1.0–3.9, or up to 4.9 for games with a master level; shown under Progress). It rises with first-try answers (faster when he answers quickly or keeps a streak) and drops after mistakes, aiming for about 80% success. The first four tasks of a game move it half a level each, so the app finds his level fast.
At the end of a run Kockica asks for a short movement and eye break (stretch, jump, look far away, drink water). Only active play is counted.