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MapPals

Find a comfy place to start (ages 6–8) — a few quick games with Cardi the cardinal, no test and no score, that end with a friendly "here's where we start" kit. Then, for grown-ups: how school teaches reading and math NOW (blending, number bonds, magic-e). On-device — no accounts, no grades, nothing sent.

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Built for sittings of about 15 minutes on the screen. That is our design budget, not a measurement.

MapPals mascot

Meet your mentor

Every Spark & Anvil app has a friendly mentor character that demonstrates, asks, and patiently scaffolds learning.

Mentored by Cardi

MapPals mascot
Live Early literacy (blending · digraphs · magic-e) Early numeracy (ten-frames · number bonds · place value) Program #121 Comfortable-Start — a de-scored placement + a parent method-translator Hero color: #3A8F6F
Engagement: Modes pending

Characters who teach

Meet the cast

MapPals is a gentle app for ages 6 to 8. Cardi the cardinal helps your child find a comfortable place to start, and three map-drawing birds guide the way: Blendi stretches sounds into words, Bondi breaks a number into parts, and Magi shows how a silent e changes a vowel. Each friend has a short read-aloud story.

Cardi portrait

Cardi

the cardinal who finds you a comfy place to start

Read chapter →
Blendi portrait

Blendi

draws the blending route — stretch the sounds, then the word

Read chapter →
Bondi portrait

Bondi

draws number bonds — a number breaks into parts

Read chapter →
Magi portrait

Magi

draws the magic-e route — the silent e that changes the vowel

Read chapter →

Browse all chapters → · What's distributed-narrative methodology? →

What's inside

🎯

Learning goal

Find a comfy place to start (ages 6–8) — a few quick games with Cardi the cardinal, no test and no score, that end with a friendly "here's where we start" kit. Then, for grown-ups: how school teaches reading and math NOW (blending, number bonds, magic-e). On-device — no accounts, no grades, nothing sent.

Mentored by Cardi — no data leaves the device.

How MapPals handles your kid's data

  • ✅ All progress, settings, and AI-generated content stays on the device
  • ✅ No analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs
  • ✅ Free — no ads, no in-app purchases
  • ✅ No personal information collected from children — in line with COPPA (updated by the 2026 FTC amendments)
  • ✅ No chat with strangers — play-together rooms use a short code and preset emotes, never typed messages

Full parent privacy guide →

For you, the grown-up

Spark & Whetstone, our free site for grown-ups, tells what MapPals teaches in 2 short courses.

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