Overview for teachers

Uggadugu: What comes into play where

Overview for teachers, school special needs educators, early childhood professionals and parents or guardians: curriculum reference, scientific and special needs education foundations, limits, and ideas for integration into lessons, day care and family life.

As of 1 October 2026. Describes the PWA as fully planned (build and correction plan, development plan, clock and earth modules, analogue games). Building blocks that are not yet built are marked as «planned». There is no effectiveness study for Uggadugu itself; all evidence applies to methods, not to the product.

www.buero-wehrli.ch, F.J.Wehrli

Built Available in the app
Limit What a statement does not show

1 What Uggadugu is and what it is not

Uggadugu is a learning web app (PWA) for children from kindergarten to year 2 (cycle 1 of Lehrplan 21 in German-speaking Switzerland). It runs in the browser, offline, without an account and without a server for children's data. Everything a child does stays on the device. Adults decide whether and what leaves the device: as a printed sheet, as a portfolio export or as a QR handover to another device.

1.1 The basic idea in one picture

A round in the app takes a few minutes. Afterwards Ugu, the cuddly toy, deliberately leads the child away from the screen: to an activity with chalk, stones, a kitchen timer or the family. What the child does outside or at the table flows back into the app as an observation. This loop (screen, analogue, observation) is the core and sets Uggadugu apart from pure screen apps.

1.2 What the app does not do

It makes no clinical findings and does not report any need for support. Speed and number of errors trigger no warning.
It does not replace speech and language support, psychomotor support, early special needs education or any mandatory teaching material.
It measures no time and has no leaderboards, streaks or loss mechanics. The reward picture and confetti after the round are on by default; adults can switch them off under «Supports», and with supports from a class code they are off.
It claims no effectiveness and no curriculum approval. Competence codes are references, checked against the Zurich version (zh.lehrplan.ch), not an approval by any authority.

1.3 How to read this overview

Each learning path has a table with five columns: the building block, what the app specifically does there, the curriculum reference with code and source, the scientific or special needs education foundation with its limit, and notes for adults. This is followed by suggestions for embedding the learning path in lessons, day care or the family. Abbreviations in the tables: KG = kindergarten, 1./2. = year 1 and year 2, SHP = school special needs education, DaZ = German as a second language.

1.4 The nine development-oriented approaches

Lehrplan 21 describes the start of cycle 1 not only through subjects but through nine development-oriented approaches (Lehrplan 21, focal points of cycle 1). Every task in Uggadugu carries either a subject code or a number from this list. Kindergarten and day care can thus show which approaches were practised, without subject codes.

What Uggadugu is and what it is not
No.	Approach	Example in Uggadugu
1	Body, health and motor skills	Analogue cards with movement (walking the number line, tracing letters with the arm), fine motor skills when tracing
2	Perception	Telling sounds apart, tactile letters, quick look at quantities
3	Orientation in time	Day band, ordering routines, clock
4	Orientation in space	Up/down, compass rose, turning the globe
5	Connections and regularities	Continuing patterns, comparing quantities, decomposing numbers
6	Imagination and creativity	Own game pictures, own puzzle, picture and text card
7	Learning and reflection	«How was it?» with three faces, the child explains to Ugu what it has learned
8	Language and communication	Listening path, initial sounds, vocabulary, storytelling
9	Independence and social action	Tasks in pairs, swapping roles, cards with family and siblings

2 Basic principles that work in every learning path

These mechanics apply to all tasks. They are where special needs education and learning research sit inside the app.

Basic principles that work in every learning path
Mechanic	What the app does	Foundation and limit	For adults
Graduated help (prompting and fading)	Four supports are available: demonstration, highlighting, audio repetition and no help. Tracing has three explicitly chosen difficulty levels. Previous successes do not change the template.	Foundation Prompting, fading and time delay are listed in the NCAEP review (Steinbrenner et al. 2020) as established practice in accompanied support. Limit Whether they work the same way in an app has not been studied.	Help that is used is never a mistake. In the adult area a lowest level of help can be set, below which the app does not go.
Time delay	If no input comes, «Show me» pulses after an adjustable waiting time. No countdown, no time measurement.	Foundation Listed in the NCAEP review (NCAEP) as established practice in accompanied support. The waiting time gives the child room to start on its own. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Adjust the waiting time in the profile: longer for children who like to think, shorter for children who drop out quickly.
Item memory and spaced practice	For each letter, sound, number and sum, the app remembers whether it succeeded independently, with help or at the first attempt. Items that are due come back after 1, 2, 4, 8 and 14 days; help resets to one day. Due items come back in the mixed rounds and thinking games; the journeys run in order (only 0–9, only A–Z).	Foundation Spaced repetition and active recall have a broad research base (IES, Organizing Instruction and Study). Limit The specific intervals are a transparent product rule, not a scientific requirement.	The adult view shows for each item «tried», «with help», «independently», «succeeded again later». «Can read» does not follow from this.
Protection against guessing and own confusions	Only the first attempt counts as an observation. Wrong answer options are the characters the child actually confuses (b/d, M/N, + and −).	Foundation Errorless learning and distractors taken from the child's own errors are didactic practice; Limit no study of their own effect.	Confusion pairs are shown in the adult view. This is the best hint for what can be practised at home or in the support lesson.
Input by building	Quantities are laid out or tapped, not chosen from three digits. Answer choices only where building makes no sense.	Foundation Enactive before iconic before symbolic (Bruner) is a professional tradition; the IES practice guide for mathematics recommends a developmental build-up of number and operation. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Do the same at home with real stones. The app uses the same representation (twenty frame, power of five) as the Swiss Zahlenbuch.
Visual structure («First, then»)	Before each round three picture cards to tick off, at the end Ugu with a backpack. The announcement «One more task» is tied to content, never a time warning.	Foundation Visual supports: listed in the NCAEP review (NCAEP) as established practice in accompanied support. Diary study with 28 families: two-minute warnings made transitions away from the screen harder, natural end points made them easier (Hiniker et al. 2016); Limit observational data, not an experiment.	The same schedule can be printed as a daily plan for home and home schooling.
Reward after the round	Default: after every round an adventure picture for the album is waiting, with confetti. If the reward is switched off under «Supports», a calm acknowledgement follows («You kept practising.») without picture or confetti; a YouTube video that was allowed still plays at the end of a journey. With supports from a class code it is off until adults re-enable it on the device. With the low-stimulation display there is no confetti. A YouTube video at the end of a journey is optional and off by default.	Foundation Material rewards can crowd out enjoyment of the activity itself; that is why the reward can be switched off for each child profile, and for children with high support needs, professionals decide deliberately whether it is on (white paper on special needs education, section on reinforcement). The EU is preparing rules against addictive design. Limit The source names no separate limit.	If the reward picture and confetti distract a child: switch them off under «Supports» for that child’s profile. In class, pass on the class code with supports (tick «Include the supports of this child profile»); they are then off in the active child profile on the devices that adopt it.
Support profile	Barriers instead of clinical findings: low stimulation, large targets, fewer options, symbol input, switch control, fixed level of help, schedule. Can be set per child or via class code.	Foundation Universal Design for Learning (CAST, UDL 3.0) as the framework; ICF logic of the standardised assessment procedure: what counts is the need for support, not the medical finding (EDK special needs education). Limit The source names no separate limit.	No field asks for a clinical finding. The app makes suggestions («Help used in the last three rounds. Set fewer choices?»), never reports.
Prompt for adults	Every task carries a sentence for adults, at most twelve words, as text and audio: «Ask: What do you hear at the beginning?»	Foundation Parent-implemented support is listed in the NCAEP review (NCAEP) as established practice in accompanied support; the fourth pillar of effective learning apps is social interaction (Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2015). Limit The source names no separate limit.	The prompt is spoken for adults with limited reading skills and is available in the family language.
Analogue bridge «Ugu goes outside»	After an adjustable number of rounds or minutes the block ends at a natural end point. The child chooses from three game ideas (body, hands, people), filled with its own due items. Nothing starts by itself.	Foundation Choice reduces problem behaviour (meta-analysis Shogren et al. 2004). Autoplay kept preschool children at the screen the longest (Hiniker et al. 2018). Limit Movement only helps when it represents the content (Link et al. 2013; Amico & Schaefer 2021).	Outdoor cards only appear if adults allow it; the text for children reads «Ask your grown-ups». Supervision stays with the adults.
Screen time	Daily limit of the app, 30 minutes by default. The app only counts itself and says so.	Foundation Pro Juventute: at most 30 minutes a day for ages 3 to 6, 60 for ages 6 to 9. WHO 2019: for 3- and 4-year-olds at most one hour of sedentary screen time, less is better. Limit Both for all screens together.	Day care and playgroup: under four, accompanied play with cards and audio, no screen course of the child’s own.

3 Learning path listening: sounds, rhymes, syllables

The listening path works without letters. It only needs pictures, words and recorded sounds and therefore works the same in every language and for children learning German as a second language. It is the first learning path that is identical in kindergarten, the module for day care professionals and the Uganda edition.

Learning path listening: sounds, rhymes, syllables
Building block	In the app	Lehrplan 21	Science and special needs education	For parents, day care, school
H1 Telling sounds and words apart Planned	Match everyday sounds and words from recorded audio to a picture. No browser voice.	D.1.A.1.a–b (Listening); approach 2	Foundation Training perception is a prerequisite for phonological awareness; Limit the task does not show general language competence.	Sound safari outside: one minute of silence, one finger per sound. Day care: shaker pairs with cups.
H2 Rhymes Planned	Hear and choose rhyming pairs, nonsense rhymes count because they draw attention to sound.	D.1.A.1.b (Listening); approach 8	Foundation Würzburg programme «Hören, lauschen, lernen»: medium effect on phonological awareness (d = 0.36), small transfer to spelling, little to reading, with 20 weeks of daily practice (HfH, Wissen was wirkt). Limit The app does not reach this dose and does not claim to.	Rhyme police on the way: adults rhyme and slip in wrong rhymes, the child calls «Stop». Language-bound: rhymes are made anew for each language, not translated.
H3 Syllables Built	Clap syllables with one tap per syllable; find words with the same number of syllables.	D.1.A.1.b; approach 1 and 8	Foundation Syllable segmentation is part of the same programmes; movement that represents the syllable (one step per syllable) follows the finding that content-bound movement helps. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Giant syllable steps with the names of the family: who has the longest name?
H4 Initial sounds Built	Hear the initial sound and choose a picture; confusions (m/n, b/p) from the child's own item memory as options.	D.1.A.1.b; D.1.A.1.d	Foundation Sound before letter name: the IES practice guide Foundational Skills strongly supports linking sounds with letters and systematic decoding; Limit transfer to German still to be checked.	Initial sound hunt: three things that start with /m/. «I spy something that starts with /s/» instead of a colour.
H5 Blending sounds Built	Stretched sound sequence (M-A-L) and the matching word; blending is visible and audible.	D.1.A.1.d; D.2.A.1.a	Foundation Blending is the core of learning to read; Limit the task needs correctly produced sounds, therefore only checked recordings.	Sound train: child, adult and cuddly toy are one sound each and walk towards each other speaking in stretched sounds.

Integration: ideas for lessons, day care and family

Listening corner in kindergarten (KG): a tablet with a headphone splitter as a station during open play. Two children, ten minutes, then the «syllable stones» card at the table next to it. The class code only enables the listening path. KGYear 1/2
Listening day (KG, 1.): the class draws the sound map of the school building. The app provides the sounds for the listening memory game, the children add their own recordings in the language pack workshop. KGYear 1/2
DaZ bridge (KG, playgroup, asylum accommodation): the same rhyme or initial sound task first in the family language, then in German (family language bridge, planned). Parents who do not speak German can accompany, because the prompt for adults is spoken in their language. PlannedKGDaZDay care/playgroupFamily at home
Day care without screens: module for professionals with rhymes and initial sounds as audio for listening together in a circle, game cards with goal, material and conversation prompt. Matches the Orientierungsrahmen 2.0 (Alliance Enfance) and the finding that day care professionals want information, not screens for children (MEKiSmini). Day care/playgroup
Workshop for parents (parents' evening KG): 20 minutes «Listening before reading»: why «V for Vogel» misleads, how to pronounce sounds correctly, three games for the way home. The app plays the sounds. KGFamily at home

4 Learning path reading: letters, sounds, first words

The guided reading path follows a didactic letter order for each language (German roughly M, A, L, O, S, I, N, T, E, R), not the alphabet. Every letter card has three audio clips: sound (default), name, example word. The alphabet remains a freely selectable exercise.

Learning path reading: letters, sounds, first words
Building block	In the app	Lehrplan 21	Science and special needs education	For parents, day care, school
L1 Recognising characters and name letters Planned	Find a character among a few different ones; the letters of the child's own name first.	D.2.A.1.a (Reading)	Foundation The child's own name is the most personal way in; unusual spellings are taken over correctly. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Back mail: draw letters on the back with a finger, the child says the sound or points.
L2 Sound-letter connection Built	Hear a letter (sound), choose a card; letter in a word with a gap (M_us) and initial sound audio.	D.2.A.1.a–b; D.1.A.1.d	Foundation Mirror letters (b/d) are developmentally typical up to about age 7. The app introduces similar letters separately and only combines them once both are secure (similarity inhibition, professional tradition). Limit The source names no separate limit.	No alarm about b/d confusions in kindergarten. The adult view shows the pair; practise with tactile letters made of string.
L3 Blending words Built	From the fourth letter on, words are pushed together (MA, MAL, LOS), visibly and audibly. Nonsense words allowed.	D.2.A.1.b–c	Foundation Systematic decoding, strongly supported (IES Foundational Skills). Nonsense words prevent guessing from the picture. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Lid workshop: letters on bottle lids, push them together, swap one lid: real word or nonsense?
L4 Very short sentences Planned	Two to four known words as a sentence with a picture; punctuation audible (see learning path characters).	D.2.A.1.c; D.4.F.1	Foundation Being able to read is not a prerequisite, because all sentences come from the known vocabulary. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Note treasure: word notes on things in the house, the child reads and brings the thing to cuddly Ugu.

Integration

Addition to Leseschlau (1.): the letter order of the reading path can be adjusted in the class code to the order of the teaching material in use. The app then repeats exactly the letters currently covered in class and shows the class's confusion pairs in the adult view. Year 1/2
Letter detectives (KG, 1.): weekly assignment «Find the M outside». Children photograph signs and packaging with the class device, the pictures become their own game pictures in the memory game. No faces, that is a rule of the assignment. KGYear 1/2
Reading tandems (year 2 with KG): year 2 pupils use the lid workshop to set nonsense words for kindergarten children, who blend them. The older child explains; whoever explains learns too (protégé effect, shown in older children with computer agents, an assumption for this age group). KGYear 1/2
SHP individual support: profile with two options, symbol input and a fixed level of help. The portfolio export per item is a basis of observation for the support goal, not a test. SHP

5 Learning path writing: name, letters, digits in the school script

In the German-speaking Swiss edition, children write and read in the Deutschschweizer Basisschrift, the official school script of all German-speaking Swiss cantons (basisschrift.ch). The script is only shown in the Swiss edition; in every other region the script recommended there is used, by default Andika, an openly licensed typeface designed for beginning readers (SIL Andika). Shapes and stroke orders of the Basisschrift are not changed and come from the cantonal guides (guide from the canton of Zug).

Learning path writing: name, letters, digits in the school script
Building block	In the app	Lehrplan 21	Science and special needs education	For parents, day care, school
S1 Exploring shapes Planned	Basic shapes (arc, straight line, circle) with finger, pen and large movement; start point and direction visible.	D.4.A.1.a–b (Writing); approach 1	Foundation Preregistered study with 160 kindergarten children: tracing letter shapes with the arm brought the largest progress in precursor skills and narrowed the gap between strong and weak children (Educational Psychology Review 2024). Limit The source names no separate limit.	Arm letter: huge in the air with an outstretched arm, then walk along the giant chalk letter.
S2 Own name Built	Look, trace, copy; letter before word.	D.4.A.1.b–c	Foundation In 4- to 5-year-olds, unguided handwriting later activated parts of the reading network when seeing letters, typing did not, tracing partly; Limit 10 children, imaging (James & Engelhardt 2012). That is why every tracing task comes with a pen on paper.	Mail with a name: a drawing for the grandparents, name underneath, post it yourself. A real purpose instead of a worksheet.
S3 Letters and digits at three levels Built	Easy: wide path. Medium: dotted template with stroke order. Hard: no template, with shape checking. “Show me” remains available.	D.4.A.1.c–e; MA.1.A.1 (digits)	Foundation Prompting and fading (NCAEP). Handwriting programmes can improve legibility, Limit the research has limits (Engel et al. 2018). Tracing with a finger is not the same as paper.	Water brush on a stone slab: the water evaporates, mistakes disappear by themselves. Left-hand tolerances are adjustable.
S4 Words and messages Planned	Write known words, a short message of one's own; printed sheet with own writing lines.	D.4.A.1.e; D.4.B	Foundation Writing for an addressee is meaningful (third pillar in Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2015). Limit The source names no separate limit.	Printed sheets from the child's own learning progress: name sheet, letter sheet with fading levels, number house. Offline, without a server.

Integration

Writing workshop station (1.): tablet with stylus for tracing and next to it a sand tray, water brush and paper with Basisschrift lines. The app shows the letter that is due, the children write it three times by hand, the teacher confirms with «observed». Year 1/2
Personal homework (1., 2.): instead of a photocopy master, the teacher prints one sheet per child with exactly that child's due letters and confusion pairs. One click, one page per child, the same script as in the exercise book. Year 1/2Family at home
Chalk playground (school building): a fixed spot with giant letters and a number line in chalk, looked after by year 2. The cards «chalk race track» and «walking the number line» refer to it. Year 1/2
Workshop «Pen instead of finger» (parents' evening year 1): why tracing on screen is only half of it, what the Basisschrift is, how to support stroke order at home. Duration 30 minutes, material: the printed sheet of one's own child. Year 1/2Family at home

6 Learning path keyboard and words

Learning path keyboard and words
Building block	In the app	Lehrplan 21	Science and special needs education	For parents, day care, school
T1 Finding keys Built	Enter characters deliberately on a real or on-screen keyboard; Swiss QWERTZ.	MI.2.3.a–c application skills (Module MI)	Foundation In cycle 1, keyboard writing belongs to the application skills; automated typing only comes in cycle 3. No ten-finger requirement. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Typing does not show handwriting; the observation keeps typing and writing separate.
T2 Name and short words Built	Name, space, short words.	MI.2.3; D.4.A.1	Foundation Pasted text and autocorrect are detected and not counted as keystrokes. Limit The source names no separate limit.	The child may type a message to a familiar person; the app sends nothing.
T3 Capitals, deleting, correcting Planned	Find and fix a deliberately simple mistake.	MI.2.3; D.4.D	Foundation Self-correction is an observation of its own. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Type a shopping list at home and print it.
T4 Own message Planned	Type a message, revise it, output it as a local print card.	MI.1.3.a–b; D.4.B	Foundation Designing and presenting a picture and text card is a curriculum competence. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Class post: cards are printed and distributed in the school building.

Integration

Class letterbox (1., 2.): every week each child types a card to another child, printed from the app, delivered by the «postie» of the week. Practises typing, reading and social action (approach 9). Year 1/2
Keyboard treasure hunt (2.): find letters on a printed keyboard before the device comes; afterwards the same word in the app. Year 1/2

7 Learning path characters in context: punctuation, operation signs, gaps

Special characters are not only traced one by one (offer “Special characters”); above all they are practised in context. A punctuation mark appears at the end of a spoken sentence, an operation sign in an equation with a quantity picture, a letter in a word gap.

Learning path characters in context: punctuation, operation signs, gaps
Building block	In the app	Lehrplan 21	Science and special needs education	For parents, day care, school
Z1 Punctuation marks Built	Recorded sentence with real intonation, gap at the end, character bar with . ? !. The sentence is «read aloud» again with the chosen mark: wrong sounds audibly wrong.	D.4.F.1.a–b (Writing)	Foundation Control of error in the material (Montessori tradition): the material itself shows whether it is right, instead of a red cross. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Question dinner: for five minutes everyone may only ask questions. Punctuation body: stamp for a full stop, shoulders up for a question.
Z2 Letter in the word Built	Gap at the beginning, in the middle, at the end; the options are the child's own confusions.	D.2.A.1.b; D.1.A.1.d	Foundation Confusion pairs only together once both are secure. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Word doctor: a word from paper letters, one letter secretly disappears, the child replaces it.
Z3 Plus and minus Built	3 ? 4 = 7 with two twenty-frame groups that move together; the gap switches between sign, result and operand.	MA.1.A.1; MA.1.C.2 (Mathematics)	Foundation Understanding the operation before the symbol; distractors are the signs actually confused. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Snack story: apple slices, one is added, one is eaten, the child tells or lays out the sum.
Z4 Greater and smaller Built	Two quantities, the point faces the smaller one; the frame animates this.	MA.1.A.2	Foundation Comparing before ordering. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Crocodile arms towards the larger quantity; compare plates and forks when setting the table.
Z5 Multiplying and dividing (preliminary stage) Built	2 ? 2 ? 2 = 6 as repeated putting together; 6 : 2 as sharing out onto plates, also as an observed task at the table.	MA.1.A.1.c–d	Foundation Action first; the symbols only come once the action is understood. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Sharing fairly at snack time: take turns, then check whether everyone has the same amount. Mission «Share fairly» with result entry.

Integration

Intonation theatre (1., 2.): children speak sentences from the app as a question, exclamation or statement, the others hold up the mark. Then fill the gap in the app. Connects speaking, listening and writing. Year 1/2
Operation sign bus in the playground: a chalk bus with stops, children get on and off, the class lays the sign with sticks and says the sum. The app then shows the same sum in the twenty frame. Year 1/2

8 Learning path quantities and arithmetic

The consistent representation principle is the power of five in the twenty frame, as in the Swiss Zahlenbuch. Children build quantities instead of clicking digits. No time measurement, no speed arithmetic against the clock.

Learning path quantities and arithmetic
Building block	In the app	Lehrplan 21	Science and special needs education	For parents, day care, school
R1 Recognising and building quantities Built	Tap dots in the twenty frame, drag counters, quick look at five strips.	MA.1.A.1.a–b; MA.1.C.1 (Mathematics)	Foundation Developmental build-up of number and operation (IES Teaching Math to Young Children). Limit Finger patterns: mixed evidence, Gracia-Bafalluy & Noël 2008 positive, a study with 102 kindergarten children found no advantage over a control training (Frontiers 2020).	Egg box as a ten frame (2 × 5): put chestnuts in, cover, say from memory. Finger patterns yes, without promises.
R2 Decomposing numbers Built	Shaker box: all decompositions up to 10; number house as a printed sheet.	MA.1.A.2.b; MA.1.C.2	Foundation Decomposition is the basis of calculating without counting. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Pasture: fence and barn made of chalk, ten stones are cows; some go into the barn, how many are on the pasture? Mission «Shaker box» with result entry.
R3 Number sequence and neighbouring numbers Built	Make jumps on the number line, find neighbours, forwards and backwards.	MA.1.A.1.c–d	Foundation Linear board game 1 to 10: in 36 preschool children, number line estimation improved clearly after one hour of play, not with a colour game; linear yes, circular no (Siegler & Ramani 2008). Walking the number line on the floor had a stronger effect in 33 first graders than the same exercise without a sense of magnitude (Link et al. 2013). Limit The source names no separate limit.	Draw your own strip board game: ten equal fields in a row, say the field number aloud when moving. Staircase rocket: count steps forwards and backwards.
R4 Number word, quantity, digit Built	Three directions with audio: hear the number word, build the quantity, choose the digit.	MA.1.A.1.b	Foundation The triangle of number word, quantity and digit is a tradition of early mathematics. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Triplet memory: digit, dot pattern, finger pattern. In East Africa: sowing on the omweso board, only the pits, not the rules.
R5 Tens and ones, numbers up to 100 Planned	Bundling, tens and ones chart, numbers up to 100 by the end of the cycle.	MA.1.A.1.c, MA.1.A.2.c–d; MA.1.A.3	Foundation Bundling principle, enactive before symbolic. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Bundle sticks in tens with a rubber band; paper money with tens and ones in the play shop.

Integration

Number line in the corridor (KG, 1.): a 0 to 20 line on the floor of the school building, masking tape is enough. Every round in the app ends with «Run to 14». Two minutes, then back. Uses the best-supported finding in this overview. KGYear 1/2
Maths market (1., 2.): project week with a play shop. Children bundle, pay with tens and ones, the app provides price tags and operation sign tasks from everyday shop life. Year 1/2
Shaker box family (homework): the mission «Shaker box» with result entry as a weekly task for home. Parents need a cup and ten lids; the prompt for adults is spoken in the family language. DaZFamily at home
SHP: the confusion pairs (+/−, 6/9) and the decompositions that are still solved by counting are shown per child in the adult view. This is the basis for a support goal, not an arithmetic test. SHP

9 Learning path shapes, patterns and thinking

Learning path shapes, patterns and thinking
Building block	In the app	Lehrplan 21	Science and special needs education	For parents, day care, school
D1 Sorting Planned	Order by property (colour, shape, size); guess the other person's rule.	MA.2.A; MI.2.1.a (ordering things by properties, Module MI)	Foundation Classification is a precursor of understanding numbers and computing. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Secret rule: adults sort by a secret rule, the child continues. Laundry pro: pairing socks.
D2 Patterns and sequences Planned	Continue and invent patterns; find mistakes in a pattern.	MA.2.C; approach 5	Foundation Pattern learning is among the strongest predictors of early mathematics Limit (professional literature, no single study cited here).	Nature chain: leaf, stone, stone, leaf. Robot parents: the child says step by step how to butter bread, the adults do exactly that.
D3 Laying and turning shapes Built	Put shapes together, puzzle with own pictures.	MA.2.A–B	Limit Solved puzzles are no proof of intelligence or memory; the app does not present them as such.	Own puzzle: the child paints, adults cut it into at most ten pieces.
D4 Position, length, simple data Planned	Longer/shorter, tally chart, everyday materials.	MA.3.A.1; MA.3.C	Limit Individual activities do not cover the area of quantities and data.	Who in the house has the longest feet? Tally chart on the fridge.

Integration

Robot game as an introduction to computing (KG, 1.): «robot parents» in the classroom with the teacher as the robot. Following picture instructions (MI.2.2.a) without a device; afterwards ordering a picture sequence in the app. KGYear 1/2Family at home
Pattern walk: photograph patterns in the neighbourhood (fence, paving, facade), load them into the puzzle as game pictures, recreate patterns with natural materials.

10 Clock module Built

The clock is a design of its own, not a copy of the Swiss railway clock. The hands are always called hour hand and minute hand. The learning path follows the documented order of acquisition: daily routine, one-hand clock, full and half hours, quarters, five-minute steps, digital and analogue, duration.

Clock module
Building block	In the app	Lehrplan 21	Science and special needs education	For parents, day care, school
U1 Day band Built	The day as an arc of the sun; order one's own routines, the clock shows the matching time.	MA.3.A.2.a; NMG.9.1.a/d (zh.lehrplan.ch)	Foundation Understanding of time develops through routines; daily routines are the anchor (professional tradition). Limit The source names no separate limit.	Day line: string with pegs, own routines in order, sun and moon at the ends. At dinner, tell the day backwards.
U2 One-hand clock Built	Only the hour hand; «just after five», «nearly three».	MA.3.A.2.b (preliminary stage)	Foundation the child learns that the hand moves before the second one is added. Limit The one-hand clock is established didactics without a study of its own effect:	Human clock: a chalk circle with twelve stones, the child in the middle is the hour hand.
U3 Full and half hours Built	Minute hand coupled; a slice of cake shows the part that has passed; «halb drei» as a language layer per language.	MA.3.A.2.b (basic requirement cycle 1)	Foundation Order of acquisition and earlier readability of digital times: Boulton-Lewis, Wilss & Mutch 1997 (Australian primary school). Typical errors (hands swapped, «quarter» as a right angle): Gürefe & Özdil 2019, Limit small sample.	Half-hour guard: the family agrees on «dinner at half past six», the child reports. Language trap: German «halb drei» is 2:30, in English «half past two».
U4 bis U6 Quarters, five minutes, digital Built	A slice of cake as a quarter, minute ring as help that can be removed, 24-hour inner ring.	MA.3.A.2.d	Foundation Telling the time is disproportionately hard for children with difficulties in arithmetic and is underestimated (Burny, Valcke & Desoete 2012). Hence no time pressure, levels of help, observation instead of clinical findings. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Peg minute ring: twelve clothes pegs 05 to 60 on the edge of a plate, remove them one by one. Clock hunt: oven, church tower, station.
U7 Minutes and duration Built	Read single minutes and work out the duration between two digital times. Experience one minute with the sand timer and then estimate it; the estimate is never marked right or wrong.	NMG.9.1.c/e; MA.3.A.2.f (cycle 2, marked)	Foundation Experiencing and estimating duration is curriculum content; measuring with a real sand timer, not with a countdown. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Drip clock made from a yoghurt pot: longer or shorter than brushing teeth?

Integration

Class clock ritual (KG, 1.): three times a day a child sets the big one-hand plate clock to «about now». KGYear 1/2
Class day band: the timetable as an arc of the sun on the wall, with photos of the class. Children order the cards in the morning. Connects NMG.9.1 with the schedule from the support profile. Year 1/2
Parents' workshop «Halb drei»: why children say «halb vier» for 3:30, why one should say hour hand instead of «small hand», three everyday routines for the clock. 20 minutes. Family at home

12 Learning path media and digital discovery

Learning path media and digital discovery
Building block	In the app	Lehrplan 21	Science and special needs education	For parents, day care, school
M1 Talking about media experiences Planned	Conversation cards for adults; the child tells what it has seen, with three faces.	MI.1.1.a; MI.1.2.a–b (Module MI)	Foundation Talking about media experiences and feelings is curriculum content; Uggadugu is itself a media experience and addresses this. Limit The source names no separate limit.	The prompt for adults asks: «What was hard? What was fun?»
M2 Using and saving one's own picture card Built	Take, save and find own game pictures; switching profiles on shared devices.	MI.2.3.a–c	Foundation Simple operation and finding one's own work again. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Rule: do not photograph faces. That is media education and data protection in one sentence.
M3 Following picture instructions Planned	Three pictograms per analogue card; put them in order.	MI.2.2.a	Foundation Task analysis into at most three steps (listed in the NCAEP review as established practice in accompanied support). Limit The source names no separate limit.	Children create their own three-step instructions for siblings.
M4 Designing a picture and text card Planned	Card with picture and typed text, print, present.	MI.1.3.a–b	Foundation A product of one's own with an addressee. Limit The source names no separate limit.	Card to grandparents; the app sends nothing, the letterbox does.

Integration

«What does the app do with me?» (2.): children observe themselves: when do I want to go on, when do I want to stop? Why does nothing start by itself? The teacher shows the difference to autoplay videos. Media education using a product the children use every day. Year 1/2
Language pack workshop as a class project (2., DaZ): parents with another first language record the word list in their language at school. The class hears the words in the listening path. Language becomes visible and valued; the recordings stay local, consent of the speakers is mandatory. Year 1/2DaZFamily at home

13 Analogue games «Ugu goes outside»

For each building block there are three game ideas from three axes: body (gross motor, outside), hands (laying out material, touching, writing), people and everyday life (family, setting the table, on the way). The app fills the ideas with the items the child is currently practising or confusing. Material comes from the household or nature, with substitutes per region. Six missions have a result entry that the app checks: shaker box, share fairly, quick look, initial sound hunt, rhyme pairs, syllable boxes.

Analogue games «Ugu goes outside»
Tool	Implementation	Evidence	Limit
Movement that represents the content	Number as a place on a line, letter as the path of the arm	Link et al. 2013; Educ. Psych. Review 2024	Limit Movement without a link to content brings nothing or costs; hence no «hop 5 times»
Touch	Trace string, sand or play dough blindfolded	Bara, Gentaz & Colé 2004	Limit Kindergarten age, accompanied training
Teaching instead of learning	The child teaches cuddly Ugu what it has played	Chase et al. 2009	Limit Shown in year 5 and year 8 with a computer agent; an assumption for 5-year-olds
Choice	Two or three cards to choose from	Shogren et al. 2004	Limit Studies mostly with children with disabilities or behavioural difficulties
Green	Outdoor cards preferred where allowed	Faber Taylor & Kuo 2009	Limit Small sample
Excluded	Brain Gym, «cross-lateral movements connect the brain hemispheres», learning styles	Hyatt 2007	Limit No evidence; such movements may appear as play, never with this justification

Integration

Playground cards (school): the cards are printed as a set and hang at the playground. The playground supervisor draws a card for the class. No device needed. Year 1/2
Day care game cards: the same set with goal, material and conversation prompt, sorted by the nine approaches, for day care centres without any screen. Day care/playgroup
Home schooling daily plan: the printable «First, then» plan has fields into which played cards are moved. The portfolio export lists them under «analogue activities» with approaches and optional photos. This covers the learning progress part of cantonal annual reports, but is not official proof (example Bern: information sheet on private tuition). Family at home
Generations workshop (neighbourhood, library): grandparents and children play the cards «Rhyme box», «Hidden hand» and «Human clock». Grandparents get to know the app's view for adults, children teach them. No device for the children, one for the adults. Family at home

14 Support profile: every child comes along

The profile describes barriers, never clinical findings. It is set by parents, teacher or SHP, stays on the device and counts as potentially especially sensitive under data protection law (Art. 5 lit. c nDSG), hence no server sync. Foundation: UDL 3.0, NCAEP 2020, ICF logic of the SAV.

Support profile: every child comes along
Setting	Barrier it lowers	Method	Tip for parents and professionals
Low stimulation	Overstimulation, distraction	Visual reduction (UDL representation)	Also sensible in the evening for children without special needs; set automatically when the device has «reduced motion».
Large, fewer options (2 instead of 3 to 6)	Search effort, working memory	UDL representation	For children who guess, first fewer options rather than more help.
Instruction always with picture and audio, slower	Language comprehension, reading	Visual supports (NCAEP)	Default for children learning German as a second language; «extra slow» plays clips at 0.85 times the speed.
High tolerance when tracing, tapping instead of dragging	Fine motor skills	UDL expression	Left-hand tolerance separately; tracing with a finger is never a judgement about handwriting.
Symbol keys as answers	Spoken language	Augmentative and alternative communication (NCAEP)	Every analogue card has a way without speaking (pointing, walking there, laying out).
Switch control	Motor skills	Scanning at an adjustable pace	The only place in the app with a pace; measures nothing.
Round length 1 to 5, reward picture and confetti on/off	Strain, motivation	UDL engagement; reinforcement with caution	The reward picture and confetti are on by default. If they distract or crowd out enjoyment of the activity: switch them off under «Supports». With supports from a class code they are off; in that case only switch them on if a professional considers it necessary.
Schedule on/off, announcement «One more task»	Predictability	Visual structure (NCAEP)	The schedule can be printed and also applies to the day at home.
Fixed level of help, waiting time	Appropriate tracing support	Prompting, time delay (NCAEP)	The chosen difficulty stays fixed. Additional support can be configured separately.

Integration

Class code with profiles (SHP and teacher): a task package for the class plus individual profiles for single device profiles, via code or QR, without a server. No child sees who has which profile. Year 1/2SHP
Support plan meeting: the portfolio export per item (with or without help, level of help, confusions) is a shared basis of observation for parents, teacher and SHP. The app says so explicitly: not a test, not a clinical finding. Year 1/2SHPFamily at home

15 Integration formats at a glance

Integration formats at a glance
Format	What happens	For whom	What the app contributes
Station during open play KG	One device, two children, ten minutes, then the matching card at the table next to it	KG	Class code with one learning path; print cards
Personal homework Year 1/2Family at home	One sheet per child with its due items in the school script	1., 2.	Printed sheet from the item memory
Weekly mission KGYear 1/2Family at home	A mission with result entry as a family task	KG, 1.	Mission card with QR, prompt for adults in the family language
Playground set Year 1/2	Printed cards at the playground, the supervisor draws one	School	Card set without a device
Tandem year 2 with KG KGYear 1/2	Older children set tasks, younger ones solve them; swapping roles	2. and KG	Lid workshop, nonsense words, number line
Project week maths market Year 1/2	Play shop with tens and ones, price tags from the app	1., 2.	Operation sign tasks from everyday shop life
Project «Who lives where?» KGYear 1/2DaZ	Globe of the class's origins, without flags	KG to 2., DaZ	Earth module stage 1, family language bridge
Partner class Year 1/2	Letter cards to a class in Uganda using the same app	Year 2, cycle 1	Clocks around the world, keyboard learning path
Language pack workshop DaZFamily at home	Parents record the word list in their language	DaZ, work with parents	Workshop mode, consent, local storage
Parents' evening workshops KGYear 1/2Family at home	«Listening before reading» (KG), «Pen instead of finger» (1.), «Halb drei» (clock), 20 to 30 minutes each	Parents	The app plays sounds and times, printed sheet of one's own child
Day care without screens Day care/playgroup	Game cards and audio in a circle, module for professionals	Day care, playgroup	Cards sorted by the nine approaches, rhymes and initial sounds for listening
Home schooling Family at home	Printable daily plan, portfolio export for the annual report	Families	Schedule, observations per competence, note «not official proof»
Generations workshop Family at home	Grandparents and children play the cards, children explain the adult view	Library, neighbourhood	Card set, adult area
Early German support DaZDay care/playgroupFamily at home	Parent support at home with the interface in the family language, listening path without letters	Municipalities, playgroups	Family languages, everyday German vocabulary with picture and audio

16 Limits, data protection and legal matters

Limits, data protection and legal matters
Topic	Rule	Source
Children's data	Only on the device. No account, no server sync, no telemetry. Export only through an active action by adults. The app sends no children’s data to us; we do not process personal data on your behalf. What the school itself has to check for data on the device follows its cantonal data protection law.	Data Protection Commissioner Zurich, digital tools
Support profile	Allows conclusions about a disability, even without a field for clinical findings; counts as potentially especially sensitive. Hence local only.	Art. 5 lit. c nDSG; GDPR for use in the EU
No clinical findings, not a medical device	Uggadugu is a learning product. It uses no medical terms, makes no promises of healing and names no disorders. Permitted: «designed with low barriers, with adjustable help for different learning needs».	White paper on special needs education, section on limits
No effectiveness claim	The evidence in this overview applies to methods. Statements about a proven effect of the product are misleading without a study of its own. A pilot with a university partner is planned; until then: «designed according to principles from special needs education».	UNESCO GEM 2023 on the limited independent evidence for education technology
Curriculum	Competence codes are references to the Zurich version, not an approval. The app does not replace any mandatory teaching material. French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland have their own curricula (PER, Piano di studio) and their own school scripts.	EDK, curricula
School script	Deutschschweizer Basisschrift only in the Swiss edition; shapes unchanged; notification to the BKZ. Outside Switzerland the regionally recommended script.	basisschrift.ch, use
Screen time	The app only counts itself. There is no child mode for day care.	WHO 2019; Pro Juventute
Home schooling	The portfolio export documents learning progress in the competences covered, never all subjects, and is not official proof.	Information sheet BKD Bern
Supervision	The app never asks a child to go outside alone. Outdoor cards only with the permission of adults; text for children «Ask your grown-ups».	Product rule

17 Sources

Cited without a link (professional literature, documented in the project files)

Boulton-Lewis, Wilss & Mutch 1997 (order of acquisition of telling the time)
Gürefe & Özdil 2019 (typical errors in telling the time)
Burny, Valcke & Desoete 2012 (telling the time with difficulties in arithmetic)
Vosniadou & Brewer 1992 (children's models of the earth)
Piaget & Weil 1951 (spatial hierarchies)
Carpenter & Pashler 2007 (retrieval in map learning)
Ranschburg (similarity inhibition)
Bruner (enactive, iconic, symbolic)

Uggadugu project documents

White paper: special needs education in the children's learning PWA (17.09.2026)
Concept and development plan (17.09.2026)
Build and correction plan (16.09.2026)
Build plan for the clock and earth modules (17.09.2026)
Build plan for analogue games «Ugu goes outside», version 2 (17.09.2026)
Learning paths and pedagogical quality standard (15.09.2026)
Institutions and dashboard

1 What Uggadugu is and what it is not

1.1 The basic idea in one picture

1.2 What the app does not do

1.3 How to read this overview

1.4 The nine development-oriented approaches

2 Basic principles that work in every learning path

3 Learning path listening: sounds, rhymes, syllables

Integration: ideas for lessons, day care and family

4 Learning path reading: letters, sounds, first words

Integration

5 Learning path writing: name, letters, digits in the school script

Integration

6 Learning path keyboard and words

Integration

7 Learning path characters in context: punctuation, operation signs, gaps

Integration

8 Learning path quantities and arithmetic

Integration

9 Learning path shapes, patterns and thinking

Integration

10 Clock module Built

Integration

12 Learning path media and digital discovery

Integration

13 Analogue games «Ugu goes outside»

Integration

14 Support profile: every child comes along

Integration

15 Integration formats at a glance

16 Limits, data protection and legal matters

17 Sources

Curriculum and framework in Switzerland

Special needs education and learning apps

Movement, material, transitions

Cited without a link (professional literature, documented in the project files)

Uggadugu project documents