Tao the panda waves, Oscar the giraffe bends his long neck down to say hello, and Fiona the fox holds out a sealed invitation.

Language learning and enrichment for children aged 3 to 12

Children learn a language by living in it. So we built a story they can live in.

Learning by engagement, not entertainment. Clever Bear is a story world your child explores: a picture book, and an activity book set in the same places with the same friends. Your child hears the words, finds them and uses them where the story happens. Every activity teaches; nothing is there just to keep your child on the screen.

See the research

No adverts
No third-party trackers
No login to read
No extra purchases

Clever Bear is an iPad app. No card for the first book, which is in English. Membership is one monthly payment.

HarvardMITCambridgeLeidenMcGill

Research from these universities and others, 20 published studies in all, shaped how Clever Bear is built. Every one is linked at the foot of this page.

The problem, and the evidence

Most apps are built to keep children playing. We want delightful learning, not addiction.

My twins were six, and they needed to learn English.

I wanted them to learn it quickly. I did not want it to feel like a chore.

So I looked at what an iPad could give them. What I found was mostly games that were loud and overwhelming, with a little learning added, and stories that felt made in a factory: bright, fast and soon forgotten. I could not find anything that grew a child's language through thoughtful play.

So I stopped looking at apps and started reading the research. How do children really learn a language? What makes new words stay? What does play add, and when does it get in the way?

The answers were clear enough to build on. Clever Bear is the method we built from them.

— The founder of Clever Bear, and parent of the twins

Tao the panda, Oscar the giraffe and Fiona the fox at a railway station, looking at a picture of a crumble. — Tao, Oscar and Fiona, from the first book.

It is not just our experience

A 2022 University of Michigan study looked at the three apps each of 160 children aged 3 to 5 used most. Designs that push children to keep playing, or to pay, were common: nearly half the apps used lures to keep them playing.²⁰

What the research says, and what it does not

We read the studies before we built anything. They come from universities including Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Leiden and McGill. Here is each one in plain words: who was studied, and what was found. Each number links to the study.

Romeo and colleagues, 2018

[3]

Harvard University and MIT

Who: 36 children aged 4 to 6 in the United States, recorded at home.
Found: More conversational turns with adults went with stronger verbal skills. This shows a link, not a cause.

Read the study

Thordardottir, 2011

[1]

McGill University

Who: 5-year-olds in Montreal learning French and English at the same time.
Found: More time hearing a language went with a larger vocabulary in it.

Read the study

Paradis, 2011

[2]

University of Alberta

Who: 169 children aged 5 to 7 in Canada, new to English.
Found: Richer, longer English exposure went with more English, but the child's aptitude, age and first language explained more.

Read the study

Elley and Mangubhai, 1983

[4]

University of Canterbury

Who: Pupils aged about 9 to 11 in eight rural schools in Fiji, learning English, with their teachers.
Found: Classes given 250 story books made more progress in English reading and listening than matched classes. One study, of children older than ours.

Read the study

Fitton, McIlraith and Wood, 2018

[5]

Florida State University

Who: 54 studies of young children learning English in the United States.
Found: Shared book reading with an adult had a positive effect on their English.

Read the study

Horst, Parsons and Bryan, 2011

[6]

University of Sussex

Who: 3-year-olds, read to by a researcher.
Found: Children who heard the same stories again learned the new words; children who met the words in different stories did not.

Read the study

Toub, Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff and colleagues, 2018

[7]

Temple, Delaware, Vanderbilt and Lehigh universities

Who: 249 preschool children, then 101 more, in their classrooms.
Found: Play after a story helped them learn its words, most when an adult guided it.

Read the study

Bus, Kucirkova, Ten Braak and Ciesielska, 2025

[8]

University of Stavanger, with Eötvös Loránd, Sheffield and the Open University

Who: 20 studies of digital picture books, 1,978 children aged 2 to 8.
Found: Actions matching the characters' actions helped understanding; mini-games did not.

Read the study

Hulston, 2024

[9]

University of Cambridge

Who: 4- and 5-year-olds in two Reception classrooms in England, observed over five months.
Found: A detailed description of how children enter a story through play. It is an observation study, not a test of learning gains.

Read the study

Evans, Williamson and Pursoo, 2008

[10]

University of Guelph

Who: 76 children aged 3 to 5, read to one at a time.
Found: They looked at the words less than 2% of the time unless the reader pointed to them.

Read the study

Liao, Chang, Huang and Sung, 2020

[11]

National Taiwan Normal University

Who: 61 children aged 4 to 5 in Taiwan.
Found: Lighting up each word as it was read doubled their looking at the words, and four weeks of it improved their print awareness.

Read the study

Takacs, Swart and Bus, 2015

[12]

Leiden University

Who: 43 studies, 2,147 children.
Found: Sound and pictures that fit the story helped; hotspots, games and dictionaries distracted.

Read the study

Verhallen, Bus and de Jong, 2006

[13]

Leiden University

Who: 60 five-year-olds in the Netherlands learning Dutch as a second language, using a computer on their own.
Found: A narrated, animated story taught them more words and grammar than the same story with still pictures.

Read the study

The Clever Bear method

How we put the research to work.

It is a method, not a story with a game attached. Five steps, each from research, and each one shaped what we built.

A language is learned in an environment
A story world your child can live in
The activity book is where the words get used
Reading grows inside this
Words come back across the series

A language is learned in an environment, not from a list.

Children pick up a language from what they hear and use around them. In a study of 5-year-olds in Montreal learning French and English at once, the more a child heard a language, the bigger their vocabulary in it.¹ Among 169 children aged 5 to 7 learning English as a new language in Canada, longer and richer contact with English went with more English words and grammar, though each child's own aptitude mattered even more.² And children aged 4 to 6 who had more back-and-forth conversation with adults had stronger language skills.³

What we built

So we never teach a word on its own. Every word arrives inside a place, a moment and a reason to say it.

We cannot give your child a whole world that speaks the language. So we give them a story world to live in.

Stories carry a great many words, in a setting that makes them mean something. In one study in rural Fiji, pupils aged about 9 to 11 whose classes were given 250 illustrated English story books made more progress in English reading and listening over eight months than matched classes without them.⁴ Across 54 studies of young children learning English, reading books together with an adult had a positive effect on their English.⁵ And 3-year-olds kept new words when they heard the same story again, but not when they met the same words in different stories.⁶

What we built

So each book is a real story with characters children care about, made to be read again and again. The words a child can use this week are the ones the story leans on.

The activity book is where the words get used.

In a study of 249 preschool children, playing with toys from a story after it was read helped them learn the story's words, and they learned more when an adult guided the play.⁷ A 2025 review of 20 studies with 1,978 children found that actions matching what a story's characters do helped children understand the story, while mini-games did not.⁸ At Cambridge, Samantha Hulston studied "curated storyworld play": play built from a story children know, with 4- and 5-year-olds in their classrooms.⁹

What we built

So every activity is built from the book, with the same friends, and every one does a language job. Your child hears a word at the moment they do the thing it names.

Reading grows inside this.

Young children rarely look at the words while a story is read to them: less than 2% of the time, in a study of 76 children aged 3 to 5.¹⁰ When each word lit up as it was read aloud, 4- and 5-year-olds looked at the words twice as much (from 19% to 38% of the time, in books where words and picture had equal space).¹¹ Across 43 studies, animated pictures, music and sound that fit the story helped understanding and vocabulary, while hotspots and games inside the story distracted.¹²

What we built

So the words in our books are real printed text, never part of a picture, and nothing to tap interrupts the story. A read-aloud voice lights up each word as it is spoken.

One word plan for the whole series

Words that come back, book after book.

No single story can hold every word a child needs, and a story for a five-year-old should not try. So we plan the words across the whole series, not one book at a time.

Each book brings its own world. London has Big Ben, the post box and the pigeons; Italy will have its own.
Known words come back. The words your child already has return in new stories and new places, so each book builds on the last.
The activity book leads, the stories catch up. Most words your child plays with in an activity book are planned to turn up in a story later in the series.

Meeting a word again, spread over days and weeks, is how it stays. In 48 experiments with people learning a second language, practice spread out over time worked better than practice crammed together.¹⁸

London is the first book. Next, the friends climb the stairs above the sea in Italy, in Lemons on the Stairs.

In the free first book

What your child does, and what each part teaches

All of this is in the free first book, London.

The title page of The Crumble and the Very Small Umbrella.

The storybook: The Crumble and the Very Small Umbrella

A picture book that opens like a real book. The pages turn under your child's finger.

Learning job

Meet the words inside a story worth caring about. Read it together, or let it read itself aloud, word by word.

The illustrated map of London in the activity book.

The map of London

Tap a place on the map to hear its name: Big Ben, Tower Bridge, the River Thames and 13 more.

Learning job

Hear a name and match it to a place.

Colouring a London bus at the National Gallery, with twelve named crayons.

Colouring at the National Gallery

Pick a crayon and hear its colour: red, yellow, light blue and 9 more. Colour a bus, a phone box or a teapot and hear each one named.

Learning job

Colour words and the names of everyday things, heard at the moment of choosing.

Oscar the giraffe in the park with pigeons, a post box and a bench.

In the park with Oscar

Walk Oscar to the bench and he sits. Post the letter in the post box. Walk him near the pigeons and they fly away.

Learning job

Action words, heard while your child makes the action happen. Six-year-old beginners who listened and acted on what they heard learned words they could later say.¹⁶

Coming

Talking about it

Talk about the story with your child: what happened, and what they would do next. We are building Tao, a tutor your child can talk to in the language.

Learning job

Saying the words out loud, to someone who answers. Across studies of children aged 0 to 6, children learned less from a screen than from a person, though the gap shrank as they grew.¹⁷

For parents

What to expect as a parent

The sign we look for

Your child names something out loud, in the language, without being asked: "post box!" on a walk, "red!" at a bus. The list below is every word the London activity book speaks, so you can listen for them.

Short visits, on different days

In 48 experiments with people learning a second language, practice spread out over time worked better than practice crammed together.¹⁸ Coming back to the same book is part of the plan, not a sign of boredom.⁶

No points, streaks or prizes

Across 128 studies, rewards that people expect for doing a task lowered their later interest in doing it for its own sake.¹⁹ Clever Bear has no scores or prizes. The story and the play are the reason to come back.

Your part is small, and it helps

Ask about the story. Point to the words as you read. An adult reading with a child did more for understanding than digital extras.¹⁴

The words in the London activity book

Places

Big Ben
Buckingham Palace
Covent Garden
Houses of Parliament
Hyde Park
London Eye
National Gallery
River Thames
St James's Park
St Paul's Cathedral
The Gherkin
The Shard
Tower Bridge
Tower of London
Trafalgar Square
Westminster Bridge

Colours

black
blue
brown
green
grey
light blue
light green
orange
pink
purple
red
yellow

Things

bench
boat
bus
letter
phone box
photo
pigeon
post box
teapot

Actions

walk
sit
post
fly away

On your iPad

Get it on your iPad

Clever Bear is an iPad app. Download it free from the App Store and open the first book.

Price

The first book is free

Free

The London storybook
The London activity book
No account needed to read and play
A free account keeps their colouring and stickers

Membership

$15a month

With the Italy book

Membership starts with our second book: every book and every activity, $15 a month.

One email when membership opens. Nothing else.

Questions

Questions parents ask

Is this a game?

No. It is language learning that uses play. Every activity exists to do a language job, and there are no points or prizes.

What age is it for?

Children aged 3 to 12. The youngest enjoy it with a grown-up beside them; older children read and play on their own.

Which language does it teach?

English first: the London book is in English. More languages will follow.

Is it only for children learning English?

No. It is for children learning English and for children who already speak it. The stories and activities strengthen the English a child has and grow their vocabulary.

Does my child need to read already?

No. The storybook reads itself aloud, and the map, the colouring and the park say every word aloud too.

Do I need an account?

Not to read or play. We do suggest a free one: it keeps your child's colouring, and where they put their stickers, safe and on every device. Without an account, their work stays only on this iPad. With an account, their saved work can follow them to another iPad.

How do I sign in?

With your email. We send you a 6-digit code; there is no password to remember.

What does it work on?

An iPad, turned sideways. Clever Bear is an iPad app from the App Store.

What about adverts and tracking?

There are no adverts and no third-party trackers, and nothing can be bought without a grown-up's email and card.

Sources

References

Every study named on this page, with a link to it. Our design is informed by these studies; none of them tested Clever Bear.

Thordardottir, E. (2011). The relationship between bilingual exposure and vocabulary development. International Journal of Bilingualism, 15(4), 426–445. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006911403202
Paradis, J. (2011). Individual differences in child English second language acquisition: Comparing child-internal and child-external factors. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1(3), 213–237. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.1.3.01par
Romeo, R. R., Leonard, J. A., Robinson, S. T., West, M. R., Mackey, A. P., Rowe, M. L., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2018). Beyond the 30-million-word gap: Children's conversational exposure is associated with language-related brain function. Psychological Science, 29(5), 700–710. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617742725
Elley, W. B., & Mangubhai, F. (1983). The impact of reading on second language learning. Reading Research Quarterly, 19(1), 53–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/747337
Fitton, L., McIlraith, A. L., & Wood, C. L. (2018). Shared book reading interventions with English learners: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 88(5), 712–751. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318790909
Horst, J. S., Parsons, K. L., & Bryan, N. M. (2011). Get the story straight: Contextual repetition promotes word learning from storybooks. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00017
Toub, T. S., Hassinger-Das, B., Nesbitt, K. T., Ilgaz, H., Weisberg, D. S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., Nicolopoulou, A., & Dickinson, D. K. (2018). The language of play: Developing preschool vocabulary through play following shared book-reading. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.01.010
Bus, A. G., Kucirkova, N., Ten Braak, D., & Ciesielska, M. (2025). Which interactive features in children's digital picture books promote reading comprehension? A meta-analysis. Early Education and Development, 37, 269–288. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2025.2571978
Hulston, S. (2024). An exploration into young children's embodied engagement with storyworlds through curated storyworld play (Doctoral thesis). University of Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.111021
Evans, M. A., Williamson, K., & Pursoo, T. (2008). Preschoolers' attention to print during shared book reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 12(1), 106–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888430701773884
Liao, C.-N., Chang, K.-E., Huang, Y.-C., & Sung, Y.-T. (2020). Electronic storybook design, kindergartners' visual attention, and print awareness: An eye-tracking investigation. Computers & Education, 144, 103703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103703
Takacs, Z. K., Swart, E. K., & Bus, A. G. (2015). Benefits and pitfalls of multimedia and interactive features in technology-enhanced storybooks: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 85(4), 698–739. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654314566989
Verhallen, M. J. A. J., Bus, A. G., & de Jong, M. T. (2006). The promise of multimedia stories for kindergarten children at risk. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(2), 410–419. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.98.2.410
Furenes, M. I., Kucirkova, N., & Bus, A. G. (2021). A comparison of children's reading on paper versus screen: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 91(4), 483–517. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654321998074
Noble, C., Sala, G., Peter, M., Lingwood, J., Rowland, C., Gobet, F., & Pine, J. (2019). The impact of shared book reading on children's language skills: A meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 28, 100290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2019.100290
Shintani, N. (2012). Input-based tasks and the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar: A process-product study. Language Teaching Research, 16(2), 253–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168811431378
Strouse, G. A., & Samson, J. E. (2021). Learning from video: A meta-analysis of the video deficit in children ages 0 to 6 years. Child Development, 92(1), e20–e38. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13429
Kim, S. K., & Webb, S. (2022). The effects of spaced practice on second language learning: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 72(1), 269–319. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12479
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627–668. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.627
Radesky, J. S., Hiniker, A., McLaren, C., Akgun, E., Schaller, A., Weeks, H. M., Campbell, S. W., & Gearhardt, A. N. (2022). Prevalence and characteristics of manipulative design in mobile applications used by children. JAMA Network Open, 5(6), e2217641. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.17641