About Us
I’m Pete and I’m a dad of five-year-old twins. As a developer by trade, I built these games because I wanted a fun way to support what my two were learning at school, so we could practise together at home. I noticed that my girls were always curious about the games I’d play on my phone like Squaredle and Wordle and realised that they wanted versions of their own.
I started with Fredle, which follows the phonics framework from their school to help them find words and sounds that they are learning. My girls soon wanted more, so we now have games for maths, languages, geography and more. With a range of games on different topics, you may also find yourself wanting to play them alongside your little ones (we do!).
About Finger Spell
Finger Spell introduces children to the British Sign Language (BSL) fingerspelling alphabet — the two-handed alphabet that Deaf people across the UK use to spell out names and words. It’s a lovely first step into sign language and deaf awareness, and it doubles as sneaky spelling practice: to read a fingerspelled word, you have to sound it out letter by letter.
The game starts with the five vowels, because BSL makes them beautifully simple: you point to the thumb for a, then along the fingers — e, i, o, u — ending at the little finger. Next come the letters whose signs draw their own shape (like c and v), then the whole alphabet, and finally whole words spelled out sign by sign — read the hands, tap the matching picture, win a star.
We draw the right hand as the pointing hand, which is how right-handed signers spell. If your child is left-handed, that’s absolutely fine — left-handed signers simply swap hands, and the signs mean exactly the same.
How to play
- Look at the hands — they’re making one letter of the BSL alphabet.
- Tap the letter they’re spelling. Get it right and you win a star!
- As the stars add up, more letters join in — and eventually whole words are fingerspelled for you to read.
- Stuck? The A–Z chart button shows every sign, any time. Copying the signs with your own hands is the best bit — do it together!
Watch where the hands touch — that’s the heart of most BSL letters. A couple of letters (h and j) include a little movement, shown with a dashed arrow.
Why sign language?
Around 150,000 people in the UK use British Sign Language, and fingerspelling is the friendliest way in — it’s how you say names, places and any word you don’t know a sign for. Learning even the alphabet builds real deaf awareness: it tells a Deaf classmate, neighbour or relative that your child is happy to meet them halfway. And because the whole game is silent by design, it’s equally at home for Deaf and hearing children.
If Finger Spell sparks something, a proper BSL course is a wonderful next step — the British Deaf Association is a great place to start.
More from Tadpole Games
Finger Spell is one of a small family of gentle, no-ads puzzles for curious little minds. Every game shares the same calm, star-not-streak approach:
- Tick or Fix — fix the broken word (add, take away, swap or reorder the letters) and win a star.
- ABC Gap — spot and fill the missing letter to complete the word.
- Fredle — a daily phonics word puzzle — trace the grid to find Speed Sounds words.
- Spanish Words — hear a Spanish word and tap the matching picture.
- Sumdle — a daily maths puzzle: drag two digits and an operator to make the target number.