Mandarin play: a parent guide

Your first color activity

1. Prepare two familiar colors

   Find one large, safe red object and one yellow object for later. No printing or Chinese reading is needed for the color game.

2. Check the start screen

   The color link selects Beginner (入门), with red and yellow choices. Choose the question count on the start screen. Open Parent Settings (家长设置), press and hold 按住打开 (Hold to Open) for two seconds, turn on 语音提示 (Voice Prompts), then tap 完成 (Done). The link does not reset saved sound or question-count settings.

3. Listen, then choose

   Press Play (开始). Let the prompt finish, then let your child tap the matching color. The first target may be red or yellow. Replay with Listen Again (再听一次) when needed.

4. Stop or take it off screen

   After one round, decide together whether to stop. You can stop earlier, too. Put the device aside and ask for one matching object; pointing is enough, and speaking Mandarin aloud is optional.

When a prompt is unfamiliar

• First replay it together. Check the device volume and the game's voice setting if there is no sound.
• Point to the red object and say 红色 (hóng sè, red), then the yellow object and say 黄色 (huáng sè, yellow). Replay the game model if you are unsure how to say the words.
• Demonstrate one choice, then offer the next turn to your child. If it still feels difficult, use the real objects or stop; do not require guessing, reading or repeating a word aloud.

A phrase you can use

找一找红色。 Zhǎo yi zhǎo hóng sè.

Find red. Use this only when red is the current target; for yellow, use 黄色 (huáng sè).

When simple prompts feel familiar

Try Color Home Sort in Beginner. Demonstrate dragging a color friend into the same-color house, or tapping the friend and then the house. Wait for your child to try before helping again.

Plan a small activity, not a timer

Choose one game and review its round settings before starting. A Beginner link does not guarantee a fixed number of questions, and activity duration has not been measured. Stop if your child wants a break; finishing every question is optional.

What stays on this device

The nine browser games remember difficulty for each game, plus round length, voice, sound and word-display settings on this device. These settings are not uploaded or used to create a child profile. Chinese Character Forest has separate on-device lesson progress; you do not need to clear it to begin.

Early characters: a separate activity for ages 4-6

Chinese Character Forest uses Mandarin sounds and Chinese characters, including on its English parent page; it has no English character course. Start together, demonstrate the task, and let your child point or tap without requiring speech.

With no saved progress, the first lesson introduces 日 (sun), 月 (moon) and 山 (mountain). Existing progress may lead to a different recommended lesson. This is not the default next step for every three-year-old, and completing an activity is not proof of character mastery.

Choose from the current collection

There are 10 game themes for listening, thinking and early characters. They are activities to share, not a complete Mandarin curriculum or a promise of learning outcomes.

Exiting a Mandarin game opens the game library in your saved site language, or Chinese if no language is saved.