Dr. Seuss’s playful rhymes and wonderfully wacky stories have always been foundational to literacy and early learning. Now, those classics are reimagined in Dr. Seuss: Learn & Play, available only on the App Store for a limited time.

We spoke with learning consultant Renée Jordan about how she helped Be the Monster build the app with educational principles in mind – all while staying true to Dr. Seuss’s playful spirit.

A mischievous fish from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish has scrambled the letters in words from the book. Can your child put them back in order? As kids drag each letter into place, they’ll hear it read aloud – helping them connect what they see, touch and hear.

Why it works: “Reading and writing have multiple systems involved in the process, so a game that involves more than one of our five senses is powerful,” Jordan says. “You want to be engaging as many of a child’s senses as possible at once.”

Kids can dream up their own whimsical vehicles in this car-building activity inspired by The Cat in the Hat.

Why it works: “So often we give kids tasks that have one right answer, such as matching the uppercase 'A’ to lowercase ‘a’. But kids need to exercise their decision-making skills,” Jordan says. “In the car-building game, all of the options provided are zany and unique so there’s no one right answer. These fully open-ended, no-right-way-to-play activities build higher-order cognition.”

As the Grinch makes his way around this candy-cane-coloured board game, the number of spaces he moves is said aloud. Land on a star to unlock a mini-game, where kids match letters to complete words.

Why it works: “We read aloud to kids long before they read on their own. We help them get dressed well before they learn to put a sock on,” Jordan says. “Similarly, before kids can count on their own, they need to see it modelled to them. Board games are a playful way to expose kids to the process and sequence of counting.”

In this simple sequencing game, kids arrange Green Eggs and Ham – inspired images to build a story from beginning to end – such as Sam-I-Am starting with a full plate, then eating until it’s clean.

Why it works: Ordering a sequence of events is key to kids being able to tell their own stories, Jordan says. “You have to be able to sequence a story before you can ever put pen to paper to craft one on your own,” she adds.

The characters of Horton Hears a Who show up in this classic game, in which you try to recall where cards are to make a match.

Why it works: The same active working memory that’s required in a game of memory is also crucial for reading, Jordan explains. “As you’re decoding a word, you need to hold on to the last sound that you had read and be able to blend it together,” she says. “Holding information in your head and remembering where it was is exercising your active working memory, which will be applied later to reading.”