Academics
SlatePals
Smudge is learning to add and take away in columns, and writes in wobbly chalk. One line of Smudge's working goes wrong. Find the line, pick the fix, and tell Smudge the rule. Then work your own sum: the margin only ever says "follows" or "doesn't follow yet". No answers given, nothing leaves your device.
▶ Play it nowBuilt for sittings of about 15 minutes on the screen. That is our design budget, not a measurement.
#2f5d62 Distributed-narrative cast
Meet the cast
SlatePals's cast each carry one rule of column sums, and the child teaches them to Smudge. Smudge writes in wobbly chalk and is still learning; Tenby carries the ten next door; Lendle lends a ten and crosses out; Slotty keeps every digit in its own place.
Smudge
(Hero and the novice you teach, a young hedgehog with chalk on its nose) - works sums line by line and makes the mistakes real learners make; learns each rule when you tell it
Tenby
An owl who carries - when a column makes ten or more, Tenby carries the ten to the next column
Lendle
A squirrel who lends - when the top digit is too small, Lendle lends a ten and crosses out so the next column has one less
Slotty
A mole with a burrow for every digit - ones live under ones and tens under tens, so three tens and four ones make thirty-four
What's inside
Learning goal
Smudge is learning to add and take away in columns, and writes in wobbly chalk. One line of Smudge's working goes wrong. Find the line, pick the fix, and tell Smudge the rule. Then work your own sum: the margin only ever says "follows" or "doesn't follow yet". No answers given, nothing leaves your device.
Question kits
16 curriculum-aligned kits × 25 questions = 400 questions per app, mapped to recognized standards.
On-device AI mentor
FoundationModels-powered hints, feedback, and adaptive difficulty — all running locally.
Mentored by Smudge — on-device AI, no data leaves the device.
How SlatePals handles your kid's data
- ✅ All progress, settings, and AI-generated content stays on the device
- ✅ No analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs
- ✅ No ads, no in-app purchases — you pay once
- ✅ No personal information collected from children — in line with COPPA (updated by the 2026 FTC amendments)
- ✅ Parental controls + session limits + content filters built in
SlatePals runs on ForgeKit — the open-source Swift Package Manager framework that powers every Spark & Anvil app. ForgeKit ensures consistent accessibility, COPPA compliance, and design language across the portfolio, so your kid's progress and preferences feel coherent across every app they touch.
Coming to the App Store
SlatePals is in active development. Email us to hear when it ships — no marketing, no spam, just a one-shot launch announcement.
Email me at launch