🇰🇪 Learn Swahili for kids
Swahili for children, the family way.
The lingua franca of East Africa — and an official language of the African Union.
Short puzzles. A few new words. Tap to hear them spoken. No streaks, no timers, no pressure. Just play, with a parent, carer or grandparent alongside.
No card needed · Free Shona Word Search included · Cancel any time
“Habari, mtoto!”
Hello, child!
About the language
Why Swahili matters for the next generation.
Swahili (Kiswahili) is the most widely spoken Bantu language in the world. It is the national language of Tanzania and Kenya, an official working language of the African Union, and is taught in schools across East and Central Africa. For travellers, traders and students, it is the single most useful African language to speak.
Unlike most tonal African languages, Swahili is non-tonal — which makes it one of the gentler entry points to the Bantu family. Pronunciation is almost perfectly phonetic (what you see is what you say), words always stress the second-to-last syllable, and the grammar is regular enough that children make fast, confident progress.
Swahili has absorbed vocabulary from Arabic, Portuguese, Persian, German and English over a thousand years of trade along the East African coast. That rich layered history lives on in everyday words like 'chai' (tea), 'safari' (journey) and 'habari' (news). Teaching a child Swahili is teaching them a cultural history book.
- Speakers
- Over 80 million speakers (first and second language combined)
- Family
- Bantu (Niger–Congo family), Sabaki group
- Where it’s spoken
- Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, Mozambique, Comoros, and a growing presence across Africa and the diaspora
First words
Six Swahili words your child will meet on day one.
For parents & carers
How to learn Swahili together at home.
Start with greetings and pronouns — Swahili stacks them in a predictable way, so a handful of building blocks unlocks dozens of sentences.
Notice the noun-class prefixes (m-, wa-, ki-, vi-): once they click, reading becomes much easier.
Listen to Kenyan or Tanzanian children's music on a loop — rhythm carries half of the vocabulary for free.
A note from us: 'Karibu' means welcome, but it is used far more broadly than its English counterpart — it is the answer when someone thanks you, the greeting at a doorstep, and the invitation to share a meal.
Six puzzle types
Word Search, Balloon Pop, Crossword, Word Scramble, Cryptogram and Missing Vowel — all themed by everyday family life.
Native-style audio
Tap any Swahili word to hear it spoken aloud. Audio is generated with ElevenLabs and reviewed by native-speaker contributors.
A profile per child
Up to five child profiles on the Global plan. Siblings see each other’s points without sharing real names.
Built to ICO Children’s Code
No behavioural ads, no chat, no public profiles. Only a parent or carer can change the plan or add a child.
Family leaderboard
Parents on paid plans play and earn points too. It’s a shared game, not a race.
No streak pressure
Skip a week, skip a month — the puzzles wait for you. Heritage shouldn’t feel like homework.
Begin Swahili together, today.
Free to start — no card needed. Add the first child profile when you’re ready, then invite a grandparent to play along.