If you want to learn Urdu for kids at home, start with listening, pictures and play. This hub brings together eight free games in Urdu and English: the Urdu alphabet, حروفِ تہجی (ḥurūf-e-tahajjī), Urdu counting from ایک (ek) to سو (sau), and picture words for animals, fruits, vegetables, colours and body parts. Every word is read aloud in clear audio, so a young child can tap and learn before they can read a single letter.
Urdu for children: a quick guide for parents
Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and an official language in several Indian states, and it is spoken by families across the UK, the Gulf, North America and beyond. It is written right to left in the graceful Nastaliq style, which slopes gently from right to left. Urdu shares its everyday spoken words with Hindi, so a child who says پانی (pānī, water) or آم (ām, mango) is using words understood by hundreds of millions of people. It also has a rich vocabulary from Persian and Arabic, and a famous tradition of poetry for children and adults alike.
The audio here uses an Indian Urdu voice, which sounds natural to listeners in Pakistan as well. The word cards are written in Nastaliq, the script parents expect to see in a qaida and in school books.
Urdu games on this site
- Urdu alphabet for kids: 39 letter cards, from الف سے انار (alif se anār, pomegranate) to ے in کیلے.
- Urdu counting 1 to 100: a tap-to-hear ginti chart with a "Count with me" button.
- Animals name in Urdu: 60 animals, from گائے (cow) to ہاتھی (elephant).
- Fruits name in Urdu and vegetables name in Urdu: 30 each.
- Colours name in Urdu: 12 colours, from لال (red) to آسمانی (sky blue).
- Body parts name in Urdu: 30 words, from سر (head) to پیر (foot).
Every game has Listen, Find it and Memory modes. Golu, our glass-marble mascot, asks for pictures in Urdu, and a missed tap only brings a gentle hint. Each round ends with a marble in the Goli Jar, and you can count the marbles together: ایک، دو، تین.
How Urdu is taught to young children
In Pakistan and in Urdu-medium schools in India, children usually meet the alphabet through a qaida, a primer with one picture per letter, and the chant الف سے انار، ب سے بکری ("alif for pomegranate, be for goat"). Nursery children listen, sing and point. In prep or KG, they learn letter names and shapes, then how letters join, because most Urdu letters change shape when they connect. By class 1, many children read simple words like آم and گھر (ghar, house). Poems, نظمیں, are a big part of early Urdu, and children often learn short verses by heart.
| Age | Realistic Urdu goals |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | Understands everyday words and greetings; says پانی, امی, ابو; counts along to 3. |
| 3-4 | Names animals, fruits and colours; counts objects to 10; joins in short poems. |
| 4-5 | Knows many letter names from alif to ye; counts to 20. |
| 5-6 | Reads joined two- and three-letter words; counts towards 100 with the chart. |
Ten minutes of Urdu a day
- Greet in Urdu. السلام علیکم or آداب in the morning, شب بخیر (good night) at bedtime.
- One small set a week. Five animals or five fruits is plenty for a three-year-old.
- Play, then look around. After a round of Find it, point to real things in the kitchen and the street.
- Praise the effort. شاباش! (shābāsh, well done) works in every Urdu home.
- A poem at bedtime. Short rhymes build rhythm, memory and love for the language.
Urdu for diaspora and bilingual families
Many families use these games so their children keep Urdu alongside English at school, in Birmingham, Dubai, Houston or Toronto, or alongside Hindi, Marathi or Telugu in Indian cities such as Hyderabad and Lucknow. Speak Urdu at meals and bedtime, let grandparents tell stories on video calls, and do not worry if your child answers in English at first. Understanding comes before speaking. Children who speak Hindi will recognise most spoken words here; the new part is the script. Children who learn Arabic for religious reading will notice that many Urdu letters look the same as the Arabic ones, which helps with both.
Screen time: keep sessions short and play together. Children under two learn far more from a grown-up talking about real things than from any screen.
بچوں کے لیے اردو سیکھیں
یہ مفت کھیل دو سے چھ سال کے بچوں کو کھیل کھیل میں اردو سکھاتے ہیں۔ ہر لفظ اردو اور انگریزی میں صاف آواز کے ساتھ سنائی دیتا ہے اور ساتھ میں بڑی تصویر ہوتی ہے۔ کوئی رجسٹریشن نہیں، کوئی اشتہار نہیں، اور یہ موبائل، ٹیبلٹ اور کمپیوٹر پر چلتا ہے۔
حروفِ تہجی سے شروع کریں، پھر اردو گنتی ایک سے سو تک، اور پھر جانوروں، پھلوں اور رنگوں کے نام۔ روزانہ چند منٹ بچے کے ساتھ کھیلیں اور پھر گھر میں وہی چیزیں ڈھونڈیں: باورچی خانے میں آم، گلی میں بلی، آسمان کا نیلا رنگ۔ ہر کوشش پر بچے کو شاباش دیں۔
How to use this page at home
Say it, then find it
Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: urdu words on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.
Ten minutes is enough
Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.
Use both languages
Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.
