- Published on
Bamboo Pals
Bamboo Pals is a 3D learning game for kids ages 2 to 10. Bao the panda and friends teach animals, counting, colors, letters, shapes, math and words, then wind down with a bedtime lullaby.
What kids do
Four age bands (2 to 3, 4 to 5, 6 to 7 and 8 to 10) change which games appear and how hard they are.
- Toddlers count up to five and match animals, colors and shapes.
- Older kids add and subtract to 10 and then 20 with apples, practice times tables from 2 to 12, unscramble words, and learn about 3D solids, science and geography.
- Times mode lets a child pick one table or a mix. Each round has eight questions in three styles, with rows of apples to count, and wrong answers walk through the running totals.
Bedtime mode
At night the game switches to a warm amber palette with a moon and stars, automatically between 7 pm and 6 am or by hand. In bedtime mode the animals fall asleep, a lullaby plays, and a good-night line uses the child's name. A 5, 10 or 20 minute sleep timer fades the sound and dims the screen.
A voice that stays out of the way
About 960 short voice lines were recorded ahead of time. Families can optionally download an on-device voice, about 90 MB, which then works offline. If neither is available, the device's own voice takes over. A line that has not started within a few seconds falls back to the device voice, so voice never blocks play.
Privacy
There are no ads, no accounts and no analytics, and the game makes no network calls while a child plays. The child's name and age stay in the browser on the device.
How it's built
The world is a Three.js meadow with toon-shaded animals, and the music and animal voices are synthesized in the browser. The app is a single source file with a small build script, and it installs like an app and works offline. A native wrapper for tablets and phones is planned.