Whipbird's Whistle
Copying a rhythm: a long whistle, a short crack, played back in order
How it plays
The whipbird plays a little song of long whistles and short cracks, and each call is drawn as it sounds: a long bar or a short dot. Then your child plays it back on two big buttons, the long whistle and the short crack. A wrong tap never tells off: "Listen again!", and the song plays once more. Songs start two calls long and grow by one each level. It's the order that counts, not the timing, so a slow tap or a switch works just as well.
What it's for
Copying a rhythm: a long whistle, a short crack, played back in order. It adapts as your child plays: after a few rounds that go well it steps up a little, and after a couple of hard ones it quietly steps back. The level number only ever goes up.
There is no score to lose and no way to fail. A wrong move is met with a gentle nudge, and a level ends when it's won.
Away from the screen: Clap it back
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Clap a little song: a long "whooo" and two short claps.
- Your child claps it back. Then swap: they make a song for you to copy.
- Try it with pots and spoons, or stamping feet, or a whistle if you can.
Three questions to ask while they play
- Was that one long or short?
- How many claps were in my song?
- Can you make a song with two long ones and one short one?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- Listen: long, short, short. Can you clap it?
- Let's whistle or hum it together first.
- You copied it exactly!
Taking turns on one device: One player claps the calls first; the other taps them in. Swap each round.
Talk-about cards: a question a day for a week, for the car or the dinner table. Print them, or read them from your phone.
If they find it hard
Say it as you clap it, "looong, short, short". Words help a young child hold a rhythm in mind. Or try Dugong Remembers first: the same watch-then-do-it-back, with animals to remember instead of sounds.
A sheet to print
Print the Whipbird's Whistle sheet
One A4 page, in black and white or colour.
From two to eight
Big Steps: Longer rhythms, of five to eight calls. For seven- and eight-year-olds: AC9AMU2D01 (develop listening skills and skills for singing and playing instruments).
Switch Tiny Steps or Big Steps on in Who's playing?, on the grown-ups' page.
What it practises
- Copying a rhythm. Hearing long and short sounds, and playing them back in the same order.
AC9AMU2D01 (Music, Years 1–2); AC9MFM01 (Mathematics, Foundation); EYLF 5.4 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0) - Holding something in mind. Remembering a word or a pattern for a moment while you use it.
EYLF 4.2 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0) - Paying attention. Keeping focus when the easy answer is the wrong one.
PSC Self-management (General capabilities, Personal and Social Capability); EYLF 1 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for children from birth to five) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
Whipbird's Whistle lives in The Dusty Red — attention and impulse control. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.
Updated