Academics
BandPals
One tune, many instruments. Hear a mystery sound and guess how it is made — hit, pluck, blow, bow or shake — then meet the kora, the erhu, the gamelan, the đàn tranh and more. Play “Frère Jacques” on each one in your own comfortable key. Ages 6–8.
▶ Play it nowBuilt for sittings of about 15 minutes on the screen. That is our design budget, not a measurement.
Meet your mentor
Every Spark & Anvil app has a friendly mentor character that demonstrates, asks, and patiently scaffolds learning.
Mentored by Tumtum
#C2410C Characters who teach
Meet the cast
Five friends, five ways to make a sound: Tumtum hits, Plinka plucks, Breezle blows, Strindle bows and Shakka shakes. Every instrument in the world belongs to one of their families.
Tumtum
Hits - drums and gongs
Plinka
Plucks - strings you pull and let go
Breezle
Blows - air through a pipe
Strindle
Bows - a bow pulled across a string
Shakka
Shakes - rattles and shakers
What's inside
Learning goal
One tune, many instruments. Hear a mystery sound and guess how it is made — hit, pluck, blow, bow or shake — then meet the kora, the erhu, the gamelan, the đàn tranh and more. Play “Frère Jacques” on each one in your own comfortable key. Ages 6–8.
Mentored by Tumtum — no data leaves the device.
How BandPals handles your kid's data
- ✅ All progress, settings, and AI-generated content stays on the device
- ✅ No analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs
- ✅ Free — no ads, no in-app purchases
- ✅ No personal information collected from children — in line with COPPA (updated by the 2026 FTC amendments)
- ✅ No chat with strangers — play-together rooms use a short code and preset emotes, never typed messages
For you, the grown-up
The grown-up side of BandPals on Spark & Whetstone, our free site for grown-ups: Where the Songs Came From. They hear instruments from many places; you learn where each one comes from.