a little capybara
Mandolu
Calm, curious and a little clumsy, with a mandarin on top. Mandolu never says a word, only purrs, hums and giggles, and shows joy, surprise and sleepiness with the whole body.
Mandolu Calm games without words
Coming soon App Store
Coming soon Google Play
Mandolu the capybara and Lumi the firefly invite your child into six lands with thirty short games about colors, shapes, numbers, animals, memory and feelings. No ads, no rush, and not a single word on screen.
- Ages 4 and up
- 10 games free
- No ads
- Works offline
- Collects no data
Meet Mandolu and Lumi
a firefly who shows the way
Lumi
At the start of every game, Lumi and her glowing hand make the first move. If your child gets stuck, she shows it again. In the evening, Lumi glows a little brighter.
No words. Lumi shows the way.
There’s no text and no speech on your child’s screen. Lumi’s glowing hand shows each new move, so children who can’t read yet can play in any language. Every game can be finished with the sound off.
When something doesn’t work out
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Try again
The thing slides gently back to its place, and Mandolu gives a puzzled little head tilt. No buzzer, no red cross.
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Lumi shows the move
After a second slip, or after 7 seconds without a move, Lumi flies in and shows the move again.
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The right place lights up
After a third, the right place glows and gently draws the thing in. The game simply carries on.
There are no points, stars, timers or losing. Each game has three levels, and the difficulty adapts to your child without a word.
Try it here
Drag each fruit into the basket of the same color. Lumi shows the first move, just like in the game. The baskets carry symbols too, so color is never the only clue.
Sorted 0 of 6
Keyboard: choose a fruit with Tab and press Enter, then choose a basket and press Enter.
Six lands, thirty games
Each land has its own colors, its own melody and its own friends. Each game has one clear goal, three levels and a small surprise at the end.
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Color Meadow
Sorting and mixing colors, shades, pairs and butterfly-wing symmetry.
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Shape Garden
Shapes, sizes, shadows and where things are: on, under, in, behind.
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Number Forest
Counting, numerals, numbers at a glance, comparing and “the same amount”.
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Animal Valley
Mothers and babies, animal homes and tracks, what comes first, dressing for the weather.
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Quiet Pond
Memory, attention, faces and feelings, and calm breathing with Mandolu.
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Mandolu’s Workshop
Patterns, odd one out, sink or float, a marble run and first steps in coding with arrows.
free game
All thirty games
Tap a game to watch a moment of real play and see what it practices. Every picture and video here comes straight from the game.
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A world that blooms with every game
After each game the world changes a little. Flowers grow by the house, lanterns light up and new friends move in. A sticker waits in the album as a surprise, not as a promised reward.
- 180 stickers to find, six in every game
- 3 stages of blooming for every game’s corner of the world
- 0 streaks, daily rewards and “come back tomorrow” messages
Some games leave a keepsake: the butterfly your child painted stays in the meadow, and a necklace from the Workshop is worn by an animal friend.
Why a surprise? Children who were promised a reward for drawing later chose to draw less on their own. An unexpected reward didn’t have that effect (Lepper, Greene and Nisbett, 1973).
Mandolu’s bedtime
Playtime ends with a yawn, not a fight
In the parent zone you choose how long play lasts: 10, 15, 20 or 30 minutes, or no limit. When the time is up, Mandolu finishes the round, yawns and falls asleep in the warm spring. The lights come on in the house and the lantern goes out.
- 10 minutes
- 15 minutes
- 20 minutes
- 30 minutes
- No limit
There is no countdown and no “just one more”.
In a study with families of young children, a “two more minutes” warning made the end of screen time harder, while a natural stopping point in the game made it easier (Hiniker et al., 2016).
Calm by design
Mandolu is built on what research says about how young children play, touch and learn. These are the rules every one of the thirty games follows.
What you won’t find
- Ads
- Points, stars or timers
- Losing, lives or buzzers
- Streaks or daily rewards
- Notifications
- Loot boxes or virtual money
- Prices or “ask your parent” on your child’s screen
- Anything that flashes or shouts
What every game does
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Big targets
Everything your child touches is at least 2 cm across, big enough for small fingers.
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A free bottom edge
Nothing reacts in the bottom tenth of the screen, where little wrists rest.
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Simple gestures
Tap, drag and trace only. No pressing and holding, no double taps and nothing that runs away.
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No accidental exits
Leaving a game takes two taps on the little house, so a stray touch never ends the fun.
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Color symbols
Colors to sort always carry a symbol (a heart, a sun, a drop), so color is never the only clue.
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Soft colors and sounds
Muted colors, no pure black or white, gentle sounds and a calm melody you can turn down.
What the rules are based on
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From about three and a half, children follow an animated hand that shows a gesture. A glowing or pulsing object alone didn’t tell them what to do.
Hiniker et al., 2015 (opens in a new tab) -
Among children aged 4 to 6, only 20% could tap and hold, and 37% could tap an object moving across the screen.
Yadav et al., 2020 (opens in a new tab) -
In a heavily decorated classroom, kindergarten children were more distracted and learned less than in a sparse one.
Fisher, Godwin and Seltman, 2014 (opens in a new tab)
For parents, behind the gate
Everything to do with money, links and settings is in the parent zone. To get in, you type digits that are written as words, like “seven, two, nine”, so young children won’t wander in.
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What your child is learning
Skills from recent play, in plain words. The game adjusts the difficulty on its own. We don’t grade your child or compare them with anyone.
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Play together
After every game, an idea for playing together away from the screen, in your own language. That’s where naming colors, counting out loud and rhymes come in.
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Up to four children
Each child picks an animal friend. No names, no photos: progress simply belongs to the bear cub or the owlet.
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Settings
Separate volume for music and effects, less motion, color symbols on items, vibration, and the parent zone in English or Polish.
- bear cub
- bunny
- kitten
- duckling
- fox cub
- hedgehog
- lamb
- owlet
Name colors together in your own language: “This is red. What else is red?” Then sort laundry or building blocks by color, and play detective: what's the most common red thing in the room?
We collect nothing
No accounts, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Progress stays on your device, and the game works offline. Only the store goes online when you make or restore a purchase.
Read the privacy policy-
No personal data
The app never asks for a name, age or email, and there is no server to send anything to.
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Works offline
On a plane, in the car or at the grandparents’, with no connection needed.
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This website too
No cookies, no analytics and no fonts or scripts from other companies.
Ten games free. One purchase opens the whole world.
No subscription and no trial that runs out. Your child never sees prices or requests to buy.
Free
10 games
Two games in each of five lands, with no time limit and no daily limits.
- Mandolu’s house, the map and the sticker album
- All settings and the parent zone
- Up to four children
The whole world of Mandolu
One purchase
Opens Mandolu’s Workshop and every other game, including the ones added in future updates.
- All thirty games in six lands
- Future games at no extra cost
- Bought once, in the parent zone
Price announced at launch
Questions parents ask
How old should my child be?
Mandolu is made for children aged 4 to 6. Each game has three levels and quietly adapts to how your child plays.
Does my child need to read?
No. There is no text or speech on your child’s screen. Lumi shows every new move with her glowing hand.
Can we play with the sound off?
Yes. Every game can be finished muted, because everything important is shown on screen. Music and sound effects have separate volume controls, and on iPhone and iPad the game follows the silent switch.
Does it need the internet?
No. The internet is needed only to buy the full version or to restore the purchase.
What data do you collect?
None. There are no accounts, ads, analytics or tracking. Progress and settings stay on your device.
How do I limit play time?
Choose 10, 15, 20 or 30 minutes, or no limit, under “Mandolu’s bedtime” in the parent zone. When time is up, Mandolu yawns and falls asleep, with no countdown.
Can siblings share one tablet?
Yes. Up to four children can have their own animal and their own progress on one device.
What languages does it support?
Your child’s screen has no words, so the game works in every country. The parent zone is in English and Polish.
Which devices does it run on?
iPhone and iPad with iOS or iPadOS 15 or later, and Android phones and tablets with Android 7.0 or later. Mandolu plays in landscape.
When can we play?
Mandolu is being prepared for the App Store and Google Play. The store buttons on this page will work as soon as it is out.
Coming soon to iPhone, iPad and Android
Ten games are free from the first day, with no ads and no account.
Coming soon App Store
Coming soon Google Play
iPhone and iPad (iOS 15 or later) and Android phones and tablets (Android 7.0 or later). Plays in landscape.