Sparkler’s mobile app enables organizations serving young families to spark child and brain development for children aged 5 and under. The app — available in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, and Arabic — empowers parents and caregivers as first teachers and helps systems serve families better, together.
Know
Sparkler helps families learn how their children are developing — through observation of age-based play activities and through the leading child development screening questionnaire.
After each play activity, parents make in-app observations. Those observations help establish patterns in the child’s play, and are the foundation of coaching from early childhood experts.
Sparkler is proud to offer the Ages & Stages Questionnaires® (ASQ®), which assess development in five developmental areas — communication, fine motor, gross motor, personal-social, and problem solving.
There are 21 different Ages & Stages Questionnaires for children from birth through age 5. Parents spend about 15 minutes answering the ASQ’s 30 questions. The ASQ is designed to be taken by parents; it is written in language that they understand.
As soon as a parent completes and submits the ASQ, the partner receives the results and a PDF report — which they can print and share with the family.
Play
Sparkler helps parents and caregivers play with children … to help them learn. Children learn through play, and Sparkler offers families about 2,000 ideas for off-screen play that grow children’s hearts, minds, bodies, and words. The types of parent-child interactions Sparkler fuels spark the kind relationships that promote healthy early brain development.
Each Sparkler play activity is a simple recipe for play: parents can read three steps and then get down and play with their children (off screen).
Activities are created by expert early childhood educators, and are aligned with best-in-class frameworks, including the Early Learning Outcomes Framework. Each activity is focused on supporting a child’s developing heart, mind, body, or words, reinforcing 24 core skills.
Grow
Sparkler helps families keep track of their children’s growth.
See how much you’ve grown your child’s heart, words, mind, and body.
Keep track of what you’ve learned together in “grow,” a digital baby book that lets you see how much you can accomplish together.
See which areas are your child’s strongest and where he or she needs more work. Get ideas for play that can help your child make progress.
Connect
Sparkler puts everyone on the same team — and connects families with experts who can help. Chat with family and teachers — and expert early childhood coaches — to support your child’s learning and development.
Sparkler’s coaches provide observations, ideas, and feedback based on children’s learning profiles, including ASQ results; play records; and shared photos and comments. It enables two-way messaging between families and coaches.
Sparkler also allows family members to share children’s accounts so that all of the adults caring for a child can work together to support his or her growth.