🇳🇬 Learn Yoruba for kids
Yoruba for children, the family way.
One of West Africa's great literary and musical languages.
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
“Ẹ kàárọ̀, ọmo!”
Good morning, child!
About the language
Why Yoruba matters for the next generation.
Yoruba (Èdè Yorùbá) is one of the largest languages of West Africa, spoken natively by more than 45 million people and understood by many millions more across the African diaspora. It is the everyday language of southwestern Nigeria — Lagos, Ibadan, Ọṣogbo, Abeokuta and beyond — and a major cultural force through Nollywood, Afrobeats, Fuji and Juju music.
Yoruba is a tonal language with three basic pitch levels: high, mid and low. Tones are marked above vowels (á, a, à) and they carry genuine meaning — the same set of letters can mean very different things depending on tone. For this reason we always encourage children to listen to each word, not just read it.
The language has travelled far beyond West Africa. Through the Atlantic slave trade, Yoruba vocabulary, religion and music shaped the culture of Salvador in Brazil, Havana in Cuba, and Port of Spain in Trinidad. When your child learns Yoruba today, they are connecting with a linguistic family that spans three continents.
- Speakers
- Over 45 million first-language speakers
- Family
- Niger–Congo, Yoruboid branch
- Where it’s spoken
- Southwestern Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and large diaspora communities across Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad, the UK and the US
First words
Six Yoruba words your child will meet on day one.
For parents & carers
How to learn Yoruba together at home.
Listen before you read. Yoruba tones are almost impossible to guess from spelling alone.
Learn greetings by time of day — Yoruba has different words for morning, afternoon and evening.
Match new words with a song lyric or a Nollywood line you already know.
A note from us: Proverbs (òwe) are the soul of Yoruba conversation. Even children's speech is peppered with short, poetic sayings — and learning a handful of them early is the quickest way to sound natural.
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 Yoruba 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 Yoruba together, today.
Free to start — no card needed. Add the first child profile when you’re ready, then invite a grandparent to play along.