For grown-ups
CrankPals is a paper music box. Rows are notes, low at the bottom and high at the top. Columns are beats, left to right. A hole means play that note on that beat. Your child copies a tune by punching the faint dots, or writes their own.
"Crank it" plays the strip here, with notes made in the browser after a tap. When sound is off, it stays silent. A copy is described in words, holes in the right place and holes still to punch, never as a score.
Print the strip and, if you have one, feed it through an inexpensive 15-note hand-crank music box. It is the same idea as player-piano rolls and the punched cards that once ran looms and early computers.
What it never does
- No accounts, no ads, no tracking — anything kept stays on this device.
- No streaks, timers to beat, points to chase or leaderboards.
- No chat, and nothing anyone types is sent anywhere.