ABC Mailbox

Post the letter into Posty the mailbox. Hear its name and sound. For ages 3 to 5.

Which game?
For grown-ups

A postcard shows a letter or a picture. Your child posts the matching letter tile into Posty the mailbox: tap it, or drag it. Posty opens its mouth, the letter goes in and the flag goes up, and as it drops in the voice says the letter's name, its sound and a word ("bee, buh, bus"). A different letter just glides back while the voice says which one it was and which one we need. There is no losing, no timer and nothing to collect. A round is 8 postcards, then it stops on "All done".

Child lock: tap the lock at the top right. The ways out hide and the back button stays in the game. To unlock, hold the lock for 3 seconds and answer a sum.

Same letter (age 3): a big capital on the card, the same capital on a tile. Big and little (age 4): a capital on the card, its little letter on a tile. First sound (ages 4 to 5): a picture and its word, and your child posts the letter it starts with.

Evening look (dimmer and warmer)

Why it's good for your child, what they learn, and how we designed it

Free, no ads, no sign-in. We count plays without names or anything that identifies your child, and your child is never recorded. Pictures: Microsoft Fluent Emoji (MIT license).

Why it's good for your child

The National Early Literacy Panel (2008) found that knowing the alphabet is one of the strongest early signs of later success in reading, spelling and understanding text. Letter knowledge means letter names and letter sounds, and this game practices both. Every postcard is one letter on a plain screen, and the line on the "All done" screen turns it into a game of I spy at the table, which is where talking together helps most (AAP, Zero to Three).

What they learn

All 26 letter names, matching big and little letters, and the first sound of everyday words like bus, sun and fish. These are kindergarten standards RF.K.1.d (name every upper- and lowercase letter) and RF.K.3.a (the main sound of each consonant). It gets a child ready for spelling whole words in Spell the Picture.

How we designed it for ages 3 to 5

Three-year-olds start by matching a letter to the same letter, and look-alike letters such as M and W, or b and d, never sit side by side early on, so first tries go well. Every posted letter is said with its sound and a picture word by one clear voice with no background music, because music and sound effects hurt word learning (Bus, Takacs & Kegel 2015), and each move is one slow glide: fast cartoons lowered 4-year-olds' attention right after (Lillard & Peterson 2011). A round is 8 postcards and ends on "All done", with nothing to collect and no "one more" prompt (Radesky 2022); tiles are big enough to tap or drag (Hiniker 2015), a different letter glides back with no buzzer, and the Child lock keeps leaving and settings with you.

About the game

ABC Mailbox is a free alphabet game for preschoolers, like talking fridge letters with a friendly mailbox. A postcard shows a letter or a picture, and your child posts the matching letter tile into Posty, a talking mailbox who opens its mouth for each letter (Posty is in our Mail Truck game too). As it drops in, one clear voice says the letter's name, its sound and a word.

Three ways to play

  • Same letter, age 3: find the same capital. Look-alikes such as M and W never sit side by side.
  • Big and little, age 4: find the little letter for a capital. In the first round b, d, p and q are kept apart, and so are n and u.
  • First sound, ages 4 and 5: the voice names a picture, like "bus", and your child posts its first letter. Q and X stay out, since no everyday picture starts with their usual sound.

The first round uses 13 common letters (A B C D E F G H M O P S T), the next the rest, then all 26. More: Spell the Picture for whole words next, phonics games in order and preschool games.

Questions parents ask

Is ABC Mailbox free?

Yes. No sign-in, nothing to download or buy. It runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers.

What ages is it for?

Ages 3 to 5. Same letter suits 3-year-olds, Big and little suits 4-year-olds, and First sound suits ages 4 and 5.

What happens when my child posts the wrong letter?

The tile glides back and the voice says which letter it was and which one we need. No buzzer, nothing to lose. After a pause or two tries, the screen dims around the right tile so it stands out.

How long is a round?

8 postcards, then the game stops on an All done screen with the 8 letters and a line for you to talk about together. Nothing starts by itself.