Free reading comprehension practice for beginners

Turn the pages and tap any word to hear it, then answer the question.

Together · about five minutes

Read one story. Talk about what it means.

0 of 3 steps done

Let your child read the print if these words are manageable. If working out the words stops the conversation, read the story aloud and discuss it together. Listening can show what your child understands from spoken language; it does not show that they decoded the printed words.

  1. Read or listen

    The Car and the Cow

    The car is far. A cow sits in the corn. Her car has a horn. Honk the horn now! The cow runs to the barn.

  2. Find one answer in the story

    Where does the cow sit?

    • in the corn
    • in a car
    • on a star
    Grown-up: show the answer

    In the corn. Ask your child to point to the words in the story that answer the question.

  3. Retell, then check the words

    With the story hidden, ask, “What happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end?” Then show it again and let your child add anything they missed.

    Then ask, “Which words helped you answer where the cow sat?” Looking back is part of comprehension practice, not a mistake.

This is one short practice, not a comprehension score. A child may answer this item and still need help with other stories, vocabulary or decoding.

Play Story Time with all six stories ↑

After the game: read, retell, reason

The final tap checks one detail from the story. Try these three steps to keep talking about the whole story.

  1. 1. Read

    Let your child read each page. If a word stops the story, use the word or page audio and carry on.

  2. 2. Retell

    Hide the pages. Ask, “Who was in the story? What happened first, next and last?”

  3. 3. Reason

    Open the pages again. Ask one why or how question without choices, then look for words or clues together.

Try it with “The Car and the Cow”

Read: “The car is far. A cow sits in the corn. Her car has a horn. Honk the horn now! The cow runs to the barn.”

Retell: “Tell me what happened from the beginning.”

Reason: “What might have made the cow run to the barn?” One idea is the horn, because “Honk the horn now!” comes just before the cow runs. Another idea may fit. The story does not tell us for sure.

Reading the printed words practices decoding. Reading the story aloud to your child lets them use oral language to retell and reason. Both can lead to a useful story talk, but they are different tasks. A correct game tap answers one literal question; it does not sum up everything your child understood.

What Story Time practices

Story Time is reading connected text, a little story with one sentence per page and a picture, followed by one question about it. Stories include “Pat and the Pin”, “Frog and Crab”, “The Big Dog”, “Fish in a Dish”, “Rain and the Moon” and “The Car and the Cow”.

A story appears after its letter patterns have been taught. Some common heart words remain, and any word can be tapped to hear it. The audio keeps the story moving, but hearing a word is different from decoding it from print.

Who it suits

Children reading short sentences, usually around ages six to eight, and older beginners who are ready for their first whole stories. It needs no microphone, so your child can read silently or aloud.

How a round goes

Your child turns the pages with the Next button and reads each one, tapping any word to hear it or the speaker to hear the page. After the last page comes one question with three answers, such as “Where is the fish?”

A wrong answer fades and your child can choose again, or go back to the story; “Read it again” returns to the exact page they left. Each story takes a few minutes, which makes it a nice end to a reading time.

A tip for home

If reading the words takes all your child’s attention today, read the story aloud and keep the retell and reason chat. That uses oral language to talk about the story while decoding gets its own practice another time.

Try next

  • Read and Do — one sentence at a time, proved by acting it out on the stage.
  • Read the Line — reads a story line out loud for smooth, steady reading.
  • Heart Words — practices tricky words like said and was that stories use a lot.
  • Flash Word — reads familiar words at a glance so that stories flow more easily.

Read more

Turning reading time into calm practice: keeping story time short, warm and low-stakes so your child wants to come back.

For grown-ups

No account is needed. Plays are counted anonymously, with no cookies or screen recording, and progress stays in this browser unless you save it to an account. This game does not make a reading-level diagnosis. Privacy details.

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