Every song starts with listening

The loop

1. HearA short tune, sung by a child's or a woman's voice, pitched where young voices are comfortable.
2. EchoTwo or three notes at a time. Your child sings them back first, then plays them — singing a tune back is easier than playing it, so it comes first.
3. SignEach syllable has a hand sign. It's a quiet way to answer, and a hint when they're stuck.
4. PlayThey find it on the keys while the app listens. If they need help, it comes one step at a time: hear it again, sing it together, the hand sign, which way it goes, the first note lit, the keys shown.
5. See itThe coloured syllables appear after they've played it. Sound before symbol.
6. Move itThe same song on the black keys, then starting on C, G and F. The syllables never change.
7. Play freeMake something up over a backing where no note is wrong.

Listening that's kind to small hands

Young children play softly and hesitantly, and sing a little off the note. So Earshed Kids is forgiving where it should be: close counts as progress, a noisy room or a talking sibling is "couldn't hear", never "wrong", and the youngest singers are judged by which way the tune goes rather than exact pitch. Pressing every key at once doesn't count. It listens through the iPad's microphone, or through a cable or Bluetooth if your keyboard has MIDI.

A path, not a schedule

The course is about fifty things you can watch a child do, in the order Kodály teachers use: so and mi, then la, then mi–re–do, then all five black-key notes, then fa and ti. Each one shows as not tried, exploring, usually, or solid — and solid means it went well on more than one day, at least once without help. Anything not usual yet for your child's age says "usually later", not "behind". Your child picks from two or three songs they're ready for, every time.

What it won't do

• No streaks, daily targets or countdowns.
• No leaderboards, and no comparing brothers and sisters.
• No characters who are sad when your child stops.
• Nothing to buy on a child's screen. Anything to do with money is behind a grown-up's check.