A child of three to six who cannot read yet can still show what they know. Quizzes for children who cannot read yet work when a picture or a sound carries the question, a tap carries the answer, and you sit alongside reading each prompt aloud.
This guide is for a parent at home. EdProcto's page for parents has the screen side: counting kits answered by tapping, and picture shapes you fill with your own photographs and voice.
We read the studies below as abstracts, and none tested a parent with a tablet at home. A quiz like this is practice: it promises no result and checks nobody's development.
What can a child who cannot read yet show in a quiz?
Five things, each by pointing or tapping: the sounds in words, the sound a letter stands for, how many there are, what a word means, and what comes next in a pattern.
| Skill | What a study found | A question that fits |
|---|---|---|
| Sounds in words | Carroll et al. (2003), 67 pre-school children tested three times in a year: rhyme came earlier than single sounds | "Which one rhymes with cat?" before "Which one starts like sun?" |
| Letter sounds | Hulme et al. (2012): teaching letter sounds and the single sounds in words improved both, and later word reading | Say a sound; three letters to tap |
| How many | Wynn (1990): two- and three-year-olds counted aloud, but only those of about three and a half could hand over five items on request | Count the stars, then "Bring me four spoons" |
| Word meanings | Sénéchal (1997), 60 three- and four-year-olds: hearing a storybook three times taught its new words, and being asked to name them helped saying more than understanding | Hear the word, tap its picture, say it |
| Patterns | Rittle-Johnson et al. (2017), 517 American children from low-income families: pattern knowledge at four was among the predictors of mathematics in fifth grade | "Red, blue, red, blue. What comes next?" |
Awareness of the sounds inside spoken words is phonological awareness, and it needs no print: your voice and three pictures will do. In the last row, predicting is not causing: the study does not show pattern quizzes raising later mathematics.
A screen can hide part of counting. England's Department for Education (2026) says three- and four-year-olds should be learning to count things and repeat the last number as the total, and to match numerals to amounts up to 5. Saying one number word for each object, which the page mentions for younger children, is one-to-one correspondence: watch the finger as well as the answer.
For shape, see picture choice questions: young children go by a shape's look before its rule.
How do you assess a young child fairly?
Keep it short and playful, sit beside the child, say every question aloud, take the answer as a touch, a point or a spoken word, and treat the result as a snapshot of one day.
England's check of children starting school at four is built this way. In the reception baseline assessment (Standards and Testing Agency, 2026), an adult the child knows reads each instruction aloud to one child in a quiet place, and the child answers by touching a screen, moving toy bears or speaking. There is no time limit, the two parts usually take under 20 minutes in all across at least two sittings, and the adult can pause. Borrow its conditions.
Target size, tapping against dragging and guessing between two options are in questions for young learners.
What a wrong tap does and does not mean
A wrong tap means that today, after this prompt, this picture was not chosen. It does not say why: your child may not have followed your words, recognised the drawing, or been in the mood.
A right tap is thin evidence too. With three pictures a guess is right one time in three (our arithmetic), and in Wynn (1990) children counted aloud before they knew what the count meant. So:
- Ask "How did you know?" after right and wrong taps alike.
- Ask the same idea another day with other pictures.
- Check it away from the screen with real things.
On talking, the NHS (n.d.) says children learn at different ages and that a worried parent should speak to the health visitor or nursery key worker. Take any worry about development to them or to the school.
What do public health bodies say about screens for under-fives?
Most set a limit of about an hour a day from two to five, two say little or none before two, and two say to share the screen with an adult. We read each body's own page on 10 October 2026.
| Body | What its page says |
|---|---|
| World Health Organization (2019) | No screen time under one, no sedentary screen time at one, and from two to four no more than an hour of it: "less is better". |
| UK government, Best Start in Life (2026) | Under two, avoid screens other than for shared activities with family. From two to five, try to keep to an hour a day. Watch and discuss together; slow-paced content; no AI toys, tools or chatbots; none at mealtimes or in the hour before bed. |
| NHS (n.d.) | From two to five, no more than an hour a day. |
| American Academy of Pediatrics (Munzer, 2026) | Guidance now looks beyond simple time limits to quality, context and conversation. Watch and play alongside your children. The page gives no figure in hours. |
So a quiz is not for a child under two, its five minutes sit inside the hour, and it is done together, which researchers call co-viewing.
Strouse et al. (2013) had 81 parents watch storybook videos with their three-year-olds for four weeks. Children whose parents paused, asked questions and had them retell parts scored higher on story understanding and story words than children whose parents only commented or simply played the videos.
What should you quiz, and what should you leave alone?
Quiz what play, books and nursery have already given your child, and leave alone anything that needs reading, a clock or a score.
- Quiz: names of animals, food and clothes; rhymes, then first sounds; counting to five, then to ten; bigger and smaller; shapes, colours, what comes next and the odd one out.
- Leave alone: written words as answers; letter sounds the nursery has not taught yet (ask which); sums in symbols; timers and scores.
Much of this needs no screen: for three- to five-year-olds the NHS (n.d.) suggests I spy, rhyming, and words that start with the same sound.
A five-minute session with you reading the prompt aloud
Five questions, side by side, your voice for every prompt and their finger for every answer. The plan is ours: we found no study that set the length.
- Set up first. Open the quiz and put the device flat on the table between you.
- Read the prompt aloud once, as written. Where the buttons hold words, point to each and say it in the same even voice.
- Wait. The finger is theirs. Keep your face still.
- Press "Check" and read out what comes back. EdProcto's study screen shows "Right.", or "Not this time." with the right answer after "Answer:", and then the explanation. In the counting kits it says to count one by one, touching each star: do that together.
- Ask one thing off the screen: "How did you know?", or "Bring me four spoons."
- Press "Next", and stop at five. The counting kits hold ten questions; five are a sitting for a four-year-old. The last page shows a score and the list of misses: it is yours, so take the device back first.
Praise, and the evening habit for older children, are in ten minutes a day.
How do you make a picture question whose pictures do not give the answer away?
Make the pictures alike in everything except the thing you are asking about, then cover the prompt and check that none stands out.
- Say the prompt first. "Which one starts like sun?" names the thing, never a place on the screen.
- Choose near misses. For a word, the same family: a fox beside a dog and a cat. For a first sound, names that begin with other sounds, and never two that begin alike, as cup and kite do.
- Match the pictures: three photographs or three drawings, one thing in each, one size, a plain background.
- Name each picture aloud first when the idea is a sound, so you test the sound, not the drawing.
- Keep the caption quiet. In EdProcto the caption prints on the button and returns after "Answer:" when a tap is wrong. Once your child sounds out words, use tags such as "Picture K".
- Move the right picture to a different row in each question.
- Do the cover test. Hide the prompt. If one picture is bigger, brighter or the only animal, change the set.
- Use pictures that are yours or free to use. Read the terms attached to each; this is not legal advice.
Where the pictures and sounds are kept
EdProcto holds a picture or a clip by its address: you paste a link into "Image address" or "Audio clip address". Keep each file at a public address you control while the quiz is in use, and keep people, names and your home out of the pictures. For a sound, record your own voice in a quiet room, one prompt to a clip.
One worked week: five minutes a day
This is an invented example, not a real child: a four-year-old, five sittings, five questions each.
| Day | Quiz | In the example | What the parent did |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Counting to 10 kit | Right at two, three and four stars; tapped 6 for seven and 9 for ten | Counted seven grapes together, moving each aside |
| Tuesday | Listen and point: "Tap the fox" | Five of five | Asked for each name: "badger" would not come |
| Wednesday | Pick the picture: "Which one rhymes with cat?" | Four of five | Rhymes at bath time |
| Thursday | Pick the picture: "Which one starts like sun?" | Two of five, the first picture every time | Stopped; I spy with sounds for a week |
| Friday | Build the pattern, then the counting kit again | Patterns three of three; eight stars right, ten tapped as 9 | Counting past six stays on the list |
Monday's misses began past six, where a finger loses its place. Tuesday shows the gap between knowing a word and saying it: in Sénéchal (1997), being asked to name things helped the saying. Thursday's first-picture habit is what a too-hard question looks like: the taps said "not yet" about the task, nothing about the child.
How do EdProcto's shapes for young children fit?
EdProcto is the best tool for a five-minute picture and sound quiz with a parent alongside, because the answer is one tap and the study screen then says right or wrong with the answer and the reason, which is the script you read out.
The shapes, and how each is answered
| Shape | What your child does | What you prepare |
|---|---|---|
| Listen and point | Presses play on your clip, taps one large picture button | A recorded prompt and the pictures |
| Match the sound | Hears a clip, taps a picture | A sound you recorded, and pictures |
| Pick the picture | Taps a picture after you read the prompt | The pictures |
| Build the pattern | Taps the large picture that comes next | The pattern typed as symbols in the prompt; pictures as choices |
| Touch the picture | Taps a spot on one picture; a pin marks it | A picture, with a box dragged over the right part |
| Count the objects | Says how many; the number is typed in a box | A photograph of things to count |
In the builder, set the kind of quiz to "Study quiz", so that each answer is checked as it is given. Under "Options · mark the right one", each row takes "A caption" and an "Image address", and two or three rows suit a young child. Write the sentence you will read aloud in "Explanation shown to the student afterwards". Spell it, built from letter tiles, and Picture match, answered from lists of words, wait for letters and reading.
The early years kits
Two rule-made kits suit a child who cannot read, with nothing to build: Counting to 10 (ages 4 to 5) and Counting to 20 (ages 5 to 6). Each prints stars under "Count the stars.", with four numerals on big buttons.
Five more print words, so read them aloud and point: Which one is different? (ages 3 to 5), and Opposites, First sounds, Bigger and smaller, and Shapes (each 4 to 6). In First sounds, say the sound, not the letter's name.
Each kit is written by code, with no AI model, and makes a new set at every opening. A free account opens every kit, and these rule-made drills are free without limit: they do not count towards the Free plan's ten quizzes a month, as a quiz you build yourself does. Tutor opens all 111 templates and Educator adds the full analysis: see pricing.
Quick questions
At what age can a child who cannot read take a quiz?
From about three, beside an adult who reads the prompts aloud. UK guidance keeps screens under two to shared activities (Best Start in Life, 2026). EdProcto's kits name their ages: Which one is different? starts at three.
Does a five-minute quiz count as screen time?
Yes. The hour a day that the UK government and the NHS give for two- to five-year-olds covers every screen, so the quiz sits inside it.
Who reads the question to my child?
You do, or your own recorded voice in Listen and point. EdProcto's page for parents shows how a kit fits into an evening.
What if my child keeps tapping the wrong picture?
The question is too hard, unclear or badly drawn for today, so change the quiz. It is not a diagnosis: take a worry about development to the nursery, the school or the health visitor.
References
- Best Start in Life. (2026). Screen time guidance for under 5s. UK Government. https://beststartinlife.gov.uk/screen-time-under-5s/
- Carroll, J. M., Snowling, M. J., Hulme, C., & Stevenson, J. (2003). The development of phonological awareness in preschool children. Developmental Psychology, 39(5), 913–923. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.39.5.913
- Department for Education. (2026). Numbers. Help for early years providers. https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/areas-of-learning/mathematics/numbers
- Hulme, C., Bowyer-Crane, C., Carroll, J. M., Duff, F. J., & Snowling, M. J. (2012). The causal role of phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge in learning to read: Combining intervention studies with mediation analyses. Psychological Science, 23(6), 572–577. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611435921
- Munzer, T. (2026). Helping kids thrive in a digital world: AAP policy explained. HealthyChildren.org, American Academy of Pediatrics. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/helping-kids-thrive-in-a-digital-world-AAP-policy-explained.aspx
- NHS. (n.d.). Learning conversations and telling stories: 3 to 5 years. Best Start in Life. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://www.nhs.uk/best-start-in-life/toddler/learning-to-talk/learning-conversations-and-telling-stories-3-to-5-years/
- Rittle-Johnson, B., Fyfe, E. R., Hofer, K. G., & Farran, D. C. (2017). Early math trajectories: Low-income children's mathematics knowledge from ages 4 to 11. Child Development, 88(5), 1727–1742. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12662
- Sénéchal, M. (1997). The differential effect of storybook reading on preschoolers' acquisition of expressive and receptive vocabulary. Journal of Child Language, 24(1), 123–138. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000996003005
- Standards and Testing Agency. (2026). 2026 reception baseline assessment: Administration guidance. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reception-baseline-assessment-administration-guidance/2026-reception-baseline-assessment-administration-guidance
- Strouse, G. A., O'Doherty, K., & Troseth, G. L. (2013). Effective coviewing: Preschoolers' learning from video after a dialogic questioning intervention. Developmental Psychology, 49(12), 2368–2382. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032463
- World Health Organization. (2019, April 24). To grow up healthy, children need to sit less and play more [News release]. https://www.who.int/news/item/24-04-2019-to-grow-up-healthy-children-need-to-sit-less-and-play-more
- Wynn, K. (1990). Children's understanding of counting. Cognition, 36(2), 155–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(90)90003-3