We Built Todpoles Because Screen Time Alone Is Not Enough
Todpoles is a children’s early learning brand built in India for parents who want their child to grow up curious — without handing them a tablet and hoping for the best. We make physical flash cards and a free AI learning app that work together, designed for children aged 2–7.
The Problem We Saw
Most educational products for young children fall into two camps. Physical toys — beautiful, well-made, but passive. A child holds a card, looks at a picture, and that is where the learning stops. Then there are apps — marketed as educational, but really just screen time with a learning veneer. Autoplay. Infinite loops. Rewards designed to maximise time on screen, not time learning.
Neither gives a 3-year-old what they actually need: active engagement, repetition, audio reinforcement, and something real to hold in their hands. We built Todpoles to close that gap.
What Todpoles Is
Todpoles is a phygital learning kit — a physical set of 104+ flash cards paired with a free AI learning app. Children aged 2–7 hold a card up to the camera, and Toto the bear — our in-app guide — reacts with audio, encouragement, and games. The card drives the session. The screen supports it. Sessions are designed to last 5 minutes, not 50.
The Magic Kit includes three learning sets: English A–Z (26 cards), Hindi varnamala (48 cards), and Numbers, Colours & Shapes (30 cards), plus a mobile stand, a plastic ring to keep cards together, and a canvas storage pouch. See the full Magic Kit →
How It Works
A child picks up a flash card. They hold it to the camera. Toto the bear recognises the card and responds — saying the letter name, the sound, showing an animation, and launching a matching game. Wrong answers are funny, never punitive. There are no timers, no scores, no anxiety. Just a child, a card, and a bear who is very enthusiastic about the letter Q.
Parents can explore how Todpoles works in detail, or browse our free printable worksheets for alphabet tracing and Hindi writing practice.
Built in India, for Indian Families
We are a small team based in India. Todpoles is designed specifically for Indian families — with Hindi as a first-class language alongside English, pricing that reflects the Indian market, and content that is grounded in the world Indian children actually live in. Hindi is not an add-on for us. It is built into the product from the start.
What We Believe
We believe early learning should be joyful, not anxious. No pressure, no competitive scoring, no streaks that guilt a parent into opening the app every day. Todpoles is designed around the child’s readiness — children develop at different paces, and the app respects that. There are no ads, no in-app purchases visible to children, and no data collection on child behaviour for advertising purposes.
We also believe the physical world matters. Research consistently shows that children learn better when they have something tangible to interact with. The flash card is not a gimmick — it is the anchor. The app amplifies it.
Todpoles App
More learning with Todpoles
The Todpoles app is free to download and pairs with our physical flash cards to bring learning to life. Interactive games, letter sounds, Hindi, numbers — built for children aged 2–7 by a small team in India that believes learning should be joyful, not stressful.
