Game Description
The objective of Letterprins (“Letter Prince”) is to enhance reading skills by improving reading motivation, promoting literacy, and boosting reading competence. Letterprins is a free web-app available and accessible to all. The web-app is designed in such a way that both literate and low-literate adults can play it with their children, have fun, and learn.

Letterprins has built-in algorithms that offer personalised learning by tracking a child’s current knowledge and offering new knowledge in a structured manner. Fast learners are challenged, while struggling learners are supported with tailored exercises.

In the game children help the Letterprins and the Leesbeestjes to collect the lost letters. With each exercise in the game the child earns letters. The game is developed with the principles of a growth mindset, children are rewarded for their effort and not for the result. During the game you fill your own library with books selected especially for you.

The game has six different types of exercises that follow each other based on the built-in algorithms. At certain points in the game the child can choose to ‘become faster’ or ‘learn something new’. ‘Become faster’ will trigger 5 exercises that flash short words, an assignment in which children learn to automate. When they choose ‘learn something new’ the game continues to the next level. With each exercise in the game the child earns letters (points).

Since the game is completely developed with the principles of a growth mindset, children are rewarded for their effort and not for the result. After each exercise you go back to the castle where you can collect letters that float in the towers. This minigame is an easter egg that children can discover by clicking on a floating letter in the tower.

The castle consists of 5 different places where the exercises and floating letters can be found. From the main tower you can end up outside of the tower, in the sky, in the wizard’s house and in the house of the Leesbeestjes.

When a child has collected 100 letters, another book is completed and they’ll see this book appear in the bookcase. What book they see is based on their personal preferences. For example, if a child expresses interest in fairytales and friendship, the app recommends books in those genres.

In the Lettertuin (Letter garden) children find the letters they have unlocked during the exercises. Each new letter or combination is trimmed from a hedge by the Leesbeestjes. A child can play 5 to maximum 15 exercises (5 – 20 min) a day for approximately 6 months, depending on the frequency in which it is played. After the last exercise of the day, the child gets a notification from the Leesbeestjes that this was it for today.