K-12 learning 🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom Since 2013 4.5 · 30K ratings

Teach Your Monster

Phonics, reading, maths and healthy eating games for ages 3 to 6, free on computers.

Visit teachyourmonster.org All companies
children helped since 2013, according to Teach Your Monster
50M+
games, all free on computers
4
App Store US, Teach Your Monster to Read, 29,837 ratings
4.5
on Trustpilot, 32 reviews
4.6

About Teach Your Monster

Teach Your Monster makes 4 learning games for children aged about 3 to 6: Teach Your Monster to Read, Reading for Fun, Number Skills and Adventurous Eating. All 4 games are free to play on computers through the website. The apps cost money: Teach Your Monster to Read is $8.99 once on the App Store and Google Play, and Number Skills is a subscription from $8.99 a month in the US App Store. Teach Your Monster to Read teaches systematic synthetic phonics in 3 stages and was designed with literacy lecturers from the University of Roehampton. Teach Your Monster Ltd is a London company funded by the Usborne Foundation, the charity of the Usborne publishing family.

Teach Your Monster turns early learning into games. A child designs a monster and takes it through a world of mini games. Teach Your Monster to Read covers phonics, Reading for Fun covers reading for pleasure, Number Skills covers early maths and Adventurous Eating gets children to try fruit and vegetables.

The Usborne family set up the Usborne Foundation to fund early years projects. The first game was Teach Your Monster to Read, built with Angela Colvert and Alison Kelly, senior lecturers in English education at the University of Roehampton. In December 2013 the family registered Teach Monster Games Limited in London. It took the name Teach Your Monster Limited in December 2020.

The games are free on computers for everyone. App sales, subscriptions and donations from the Usborne Foundation pay for the work. The Foundation gave the company £1,000,000 in 2024. In May 2026 Teach Your Monster said Teach Your Monster to Read will move from a one-time app purchase to a subscription with a new version later in 2026.

History

  1. 2007 The Usborne Foundation is registered with the Charity Commission on 12 December.
  2. 2012 Teach Your Monster to Read wins Gold at the Primary Teach Awards.
  3. 2013 The game gets its first BAFTA Children’s Awards nomination. Teach Monster Games Limited is registered in London on 19 December.
  4. 2014 Teach Your Monster to Read comes out on the App Store in July and is a BETT Awards finalist.
  5. 2015 A second BAFTA Children’s Awards nomination.
  6. 2020 Apple names Teach Your Monster to Read in its Best of 2020 paid iPhone apps. The company becomes Teach Your Monster Limited in December.
  7. 2021 Reading for Fun comes out on the App Store in September.
  8. 2022 Number Skills comes out on the App Store in January.
  9. 2023 Adventurous Eating comes out on the App Store in January. Peter Usborne dies on 30 March, and Nicola Usborne takes control of the company.
  10. 2024 The Usborne Foundation gives Teach Your Monster Limited £1,000,000 for game development.
  11. 2025 Number Skills wins a Mom’s Choice Gold Award.
  12. 2026 In May the company announces a new Teach Your Monster to Read with a paid app subscription, free on the web and in classrooms.

Leadership

  • Antonio Gould Executive Director
  • Nicola Usborne Director of Teach Your Monster Ltd and trustee of the Usborne Foundation

The 2025 accounts of Teach Your Monster Ltd report an average of 3 employees, including the director. The company does not say how many people work on the games in total. Literacy experts Angela Colvert and Alison Kelly of the University of Roehampton advise on the reading games, Bernie Westacott on Number Skills and Dr Lucy Cooke on Adventurous Eating.

How Teach Your Monster to Read teaches phonics

stages, from first sounds to little books
3
letter-sound combinations in stages 1 and 2
49
tricky words in stages 1 and 2
36
  • Systematic synthetic phonics
  • Phases 2 to 5 of Letters and Sounds
  • Blending and segmenting
  • CVC, CVCC, CCV and CCVC words
  • Tricky words
  • Alternative spellings
  • Sentence comprehension
  • Practice Mode with flashcards
  • Progress stats by grapheme
  • British English voice

Games and stages at Teach Your Monster

Teach Your Monster to Read3

  • First Steps: first 31 letter-sound combinations, CVC words, 6 tricky words
  • Fun with Words: 18 more letter-sound combinations, 30 tricky words, sentences
  • Champion Reader: alternative spellings and pronunciations, little books

Reading for Fun3

  • Village quests: baking, detective mode, deliveries
  • Over 70 ebooks from Usborne, Okido, Otter-Barry and others
  • Badges and a bookcase of earned books

Number Skills3

  • Starter: numbers up to 5
  • Confident: numbers up to 10, number bonds
  • Experienced: numbers up to 100, place value, number lines

Adventurous Eating3

  • Over 40 fruits and vegetables
  • Tables for look, smell, listen, touch and taste
  • Bub’s Garden: plant, grow and cook

Stages as described on teachyourmonster.org on 7 October 2026. The App Store listing for Number Skills says the game emphasises numbers up to 20.

Products

  • Teach Your Monster to Read Phonics in 3 stages, from first letter sounds to reading little books. Free on computers, $8.99 once on the App Store and Google Play. Game overview
  • Reading for Fun A village adventure for children who can already read. Players follow recipes, solve mysteries and collect over 70 ebooks for their bookcase. Game overview
  • Number Skills 15 mini games and over 150 levels for ages 3 to 6+, from counting to addition, subtraction and place value. Free on computers and for schools. Game overview
  • Adventurous Eating Children explore over 40 fruits and vegetables with all 5 senses. Built with Dr Lucy Cooke and inspired by the SAPERE method. Game overview
  • Teacher accounts Teachers set up players for a class, track progress by grapheme and print resources. Schools get the Number Skills and Adventurous Eating apps for free with a verified school email. Teachers’ area

How much is Teach Your Monster?

  • Web, all 4 games Free on computers
  • Subscription later in 2026 Teach Your Monster to Read app $8.99 one-off, App Store and Google Play
  • Reading for Fun app $7.99 one-off on the App Store, free download with in-app purchases on Google Play
  • Number Skills app, monthly $8.99/mo $8.99 a month, free download, App Store subscription
  • Number Skills app, yearly $49.99 or $69.99 a year two yearly plans on the App Store
  • Adventurous Eating app $4.99 free download, Unlock Full Game in-app purchase
  • Schools Free Number Skills and Adventurous Eating apps with a verified school email

Is Teach Your Monster free?

All 4 games are free to play on computers through teachyourmonster.org, for parents and schools.

Prices on teachyourmonster.org, the US App Store and US Google Play on 7 October 2026, in US dollars. The UK App Store charges £8.99 for Teach Your Monster to Read and £7.99 for Reading for Fun. The Number Skills App Store page lists two yearly plans, Annual at $69.99 and Yearly at $49.99. Teach Your Monster to Read will become a subscription app later in 2026, and earlier buyers get the new version for free.

Refunds and cancelling app subscriptions

User agreement
  • App purchases and subscriptions are billed by the app stores.
  • Most subscriptions renew monthly, according to the user agreement.
  • The games stay free on computers after a subscription ends.
  • Support answers at support@teachyourmonster.org.

Refund rules

UK consumers
No 14-day right to change your mind for digital content supplied at once.
Subscriptions
No refund for the unused part of a billing period unless the law requires it.
Disputes
Laws and courts of England and Wales.

From the Teach Your Monster user agreement, checked on 7 October 2026.

App ratings

4.6Trustpilot · Excellent 32 reviews · company profile claimed in January 2026

Teach Your Monster to Read, App Store US

Current version
5.4.4, released 28 July 2026
First release on iOS
23 July 2014
Requires
iOS 12 or later
Size
100.8 MB
Age rating
4+
Price
$8.99, no in-app purchases or ads
Downloads
1M+ on Google Play

Is Teach Your Monster worth it?

What teachers and parents like

What teachers and parents criticise

What teachers and parents write in reviews, not our rating. All 4 games are free on computers, and the apps cost from $4.99 in the US.

Teach Your Monster reviews

  • First Graders Love It!!
    “It is so engaging and supportive of what we are learning in our classroom.”
    Lori Cash · 14 January 2026 · App Store
  • Reading practiced through engaging game format.
    “It is challenging with a British accent but practices phonics sounds, sight words, spelling and comprehension of decodable text.”
    Jennifer Chapman · 23 January 2026 · App Store
  • Using with 350 Students
    “The player management side does become onerous, but it’s worth the effort.”
    Caitlin Driscoll · 13 January 2026 · App Store

Latest news

  1. Making Monster Magic: how do we know we are making a difference
  2. Important update: changes to Teach Your Monster to Read
  3. Why we are rebuilding Teach Your Monster to Read
  4. The reading crisis is still here

Contacts and company data

Legal entity
Teach Your Monster Limited, Usborne House, 83-85 Saffron Hill, London EC1N 8RT, United Kingdom
Company number
08821419, England and Wales
Company type
Private company limited by guarantee without share capital
Registered
19 December 2013, as Teach Monster Games Limited until December 2020
Control
Nicola Usborne, 75% or more of voting rights, since 30 March 2023
Net assets 2025
£740,541, unaudited small company accounts
Funder
The Usborne Foundation, charity 1121957, £1,000,000 donation in 2024

Alternatives to Teach Your Monster

How we built this profile

  1. Sources. Facts come from the company’s own website, press room, imprint and careers page, from Wikipedia, the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot. Every source is listed on the page.
  2. Checks. Kinescope checked every number on 7 October 2026. Prices, ratings and job counts change, and we refresh them with each update.
  3. Our words. Descriptions are written by the Kinescope team. Quotes from reviews are marked with the author and source, and we do not rate the company ourselves.
  4. Corrections. The company can send new facts or corrections, and we update the profile.

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Teach Your Monster FAQ

Yes, on computers. All 4 games are free to play on laptops and desktops at teachyourmonster.org. The app costs $8.99 once on the App Store and Google Play in the US, and £8.99 on the UK App Store.

On 7 October 2026 in the US: Teach Your Monster to Read $8.99 once, Reading for Fun $7.99 once on the App Store, Number Skills $8.99 a month or $49.99 to $69.99 a year, and Adventurous Eating a free download with a $4.99 in-app purchase.

Four: Teach Your Monster to Read for phonics, Reading for Fun for reading for pleasure, Number Skills for early maths and Adventurous Eating for trying fruit and vegetables.

The app listing says ages 3 to 6. The 3 games cover the first two years of learning to read, from preschool and reception to first grade and year 1.

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