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Learning apps for children

One thing at a time, learned for real.

Cub Climb apps teach the way learning research says children learn best: your child answers before being told, gets feedback that explains why, and meets each thing again just before it would be forgotten. One app builds the reasoning behind gifted tests; the other teaches reading music. No ads, anywhere.

By age

Which app is for my child?

  • Melody

    Ages 3 to 7

    Melody. For 3 to 5, the cub speaks every question and only the notes being learned are on screen.

  • Gifted Test PrepMelody

    Ages 5 to 11

    Both. Gifted Test Prep covers kindergarten to grade 5, the years of the CogAT, CCAT-7, OLSAT and NNAT in North America, and of the CAT4 and the 11+ in the UK. Up to grade 2 every puzzle is pictures, read aloud. Music lessons often start now too.

  • Melody

    Ages 12 and up

    Melody. Gifted Test Prep stops at grade 5, which is age 11. Melody gives older readers written hints and a quick check, so a child who reads music already starts where they are.

How they teach

Built on how children actually learn.

Every card in every app follows the same research-backed method. These four are in both; each app adds its own.

  1. 01

    Answer first, then see it

    Pulling an answer out of memory strengthens it far more than reading it again. Practice testing is one of only two study techniques a major review rated as highly useful.

  2. 02

    Feedback that explains, straight away

    Feedback helps most when it comes at once and says why — what the right answer is and how to get there — rather than just right or wrong.

  3. 03

    Back just before it’s forgotten

    The same practice, spread out over days and weeks, is remembered much longer than the same practice crammed together.

  4. 04

    Hard enough, not too hard

    People learn fastest when they get most answers right but not all of them — a sweet spot, in one well-known model, of about 85% right.

  • Gifted Test Prep

    Answer, then say why

    One star for the answer, one for the why, from kindergarten up: the youngest find another pair that works the same way, older children name the rule.

  • Melody

    Help that fades

    Each note starts in its colour and fades to plain ink as it is learned, so a child is really reading, not matching colours.

All eight principles, with the research behind each →

Every Cub Climb app

Made for a child who can’t read a privacy policy.

  • No ads

    Not in the apps, not on this website. Nothing to tap that leads somewhere else.

  • No accounts

    No sign-up and no login, for a parent or a child. Open it and start.

  • Nothing sent to us

    Progress stays on the device. We never ask for an email, a birthday or a school.

  • One purchase, the whole family

    Each app’s purchase covers everyone in your Family Sharing group.

Each app’s privacy policy says exactly what it keeps: Gifted Test Prep and Melody.

Guides for parents

Calm, sourced answers to the questions you came with.

Gifted screening, explained

Learning to read music

From the blog

Reading for parents, with the sources.

CAT4 and CCAT-7 scores: stanines and percentiles explainedWhat the Standard Age Score, percentile and stanine on a CAT4 or CCAT-7 report mean, age versus grade stanines, and which “CAT4” your child took.
  • Gifted testing
  • Canada
Gifted test prep: boards say don’t, sellers say you must. The evidence?Toronto's board says never prepare; prep sites sell practice tests. A 2025 meta-analysis of 28 studies found modest gains and little from sample items.
  • Gifted testing
  • How children learn
  • Canada
No app can teach music. Here’s the one thing a good one canMusic is more than reading notes. What an app can't do, the one skill it can build, and six questions to ask before you download any music app.
  • Reading music
  • How children learn

All articles →

Questions

About Cub Climb.

  • What ages are Cub Climb apps for?

    Cub Climb Melody is for children from about 3, and grows with them: the youngest hear everything spoken, older readers get written hints. Cub Climb: Gifted Test Prep is for ages 5 to 11 — kindergarten to grade 5 in North America, Years 1 to 6 in the UK, with every puzzle pictures and read aloud up to grade 2 — the years the CogAT, CCAT-7, OLSAT 8 and NNAT 3 are given in North America, and the CAT4 and 11+ in the UK.

  • Is Cub Climb Melody out yet?

    Yes. Cub Climb Melody: Read Music is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. It is free to start, then one purchase covers the whole family, and nothing renews.

  • Are the apps on Android?

    Not yet. Both are on iPhone and iPad first, and Android versions are on the way. This page will link to Google Play the day they are there.

  • Do the two apps share one purchase?

    No. Each app is its own App Store purchase, and each one covers everyone in your Family Sharing group. Gifted Test Prep is 20 puzzles free, then $14.99 once for the season pass, which never renews; Melody is free to start, then one payment that never renews.

  • What do the apps keep about my child?

    Nothing on our side. There are no accounts, no ads and no tracking, and a child’s progress is kept in the app on the device, never sent to us. Each app’s privacy policy lists exactly what it stores.

More about the puzzles on Gifted Test Prep’s page, and about who makes these on About Cub Climb.