Your first five minutes
One stroke turns ਸ into ਸਾ — read them side by side.
Step 1 — aa · i · ee
One stroke turns ਸ into ਸਾ — read them side by side.
ਮਾਤਾ · mother
Step 1 — the other two vowel signs
- ਸਿ Sihari — i Written before the letter, but read after it. audio coming
- ਸੀ Bihari — ee audio coming
- 6 more in steps 2–3
- muharni chart
Four skills in this level · tap to jump · every level is open
Step 1 — read these words
Read these to a grown-up
Your child reads each word aloud to any grown-up. Tick the ones they read. Two helps allowed.
Ticks are just for this sitting — nothing is saved.
Read
10 vowel signs in 3 steps, then the muharni and a brand-new-word challenge.
Step 1 is at the top of the page. Back to Step 1 ↑
Step 2 — u · oo ਸੁ ਸੂ Open step →
Read these to a grown-up
Your child reads each word aloud to any grown-up. Tick the ones they read. Two helps allowed.
Ticks are just for this sitting — nothing is saved.
Step 3 — e · ai · o · au ਸੇ ਸੈ ਸੋ ਸੌ Open step →
Read these to a grown-up
Your child reads each word aloud to any grown-up. Tick the ones they read. Two helps allowed.
Ticks are just for this sitting — nothing is saved.
The muharni — every letter, every vowel
Read across each row. This is how every Gurmukhi letter joins with the 10 vowel signs.
Level-up move: read a brand-new word
If your child can sound out a word they've never seen, they're really reading. Two helps allowed.
Ticks are just for this sitting — nothing is saved.
Listen
Play a word, then work out which vowel sign is in it.
Which vowel sign did you hear?
Press play, listen to the word, then tap the vowel sign you can hear in it. Every word is one your child can look up in the picture dictionary.
Speak
Six sentence frames. Keep the frame, swap the blank — that is a child making their own sentences. Recordings are still to come; the frames work tonight without them.
Talk mission 1
Ready nowThis is ___
For the grown-up
Walk around the room and point at things. Your child names each one inside the frame. Five true sentences and you are done.
Who to say it to
- A Punjabi-speaking parent
- Grandparents — in person or on a video call
- Someone at the gurdwara
- Or repeat after our recording
Talk mission 2
Ready nowMy ___
For the grown-up
This frame quietly teaches boy/girl endings. Don't explain it — just use both forms out loud and let your child hear which one goes with which word.
Who to say it to
- A Punjabi-speaking parent
- Grandparents — in person or on a video call
- Someone at the gurdwara
- Or repeat after our recording
Talk mission 3
Ready nowI like ___
For the grown-up
At dinner, go round the table: everyone says one thing they like, in the frame. Then one thing they don't — ਮੈਨੂੰ ___ ਪਸੰਦ ਨਹੀਂ.
Who to say it to
- A Punjabi-speaking parent
- Grandparents — in person or on a video call
- Someone at the gurdwara
- Or repeat after our recording
Talk mission 4
Ready nowI need ___
For the grown-up
The useful one: make this the price of admission at snack time. Ask in Punjabi, wait for the frame, then hand it over.
Who to say it to
- A Punjabi-speaking parent
- Grandparents — in person or on a video call
- Someone at the gurdwara
- Or repeat after our recording
Talk mission 5
Ready nowWhere is ___?
For the grown-up
Hide something small and let your child ask for it in Punjabi. They will ask the same question ten times, which is exactly what you want.
Who to say it to
- A Punjabi-speaking parent
- Grandparents — in person or on a video call
- Someone at the gurdwara
- Or repeat after our recording
Talk mission 6
Ready nowI have ___
For the grown-up
Empty a pocket or a school bag onto the table and name everything in it, one frame per thing.
Who to say it to
- A Punjabi-speaking parent
- Grandparents — in person or on a video call
- Someone at the gurdwara
- Or repeat after our recording
Swap words: anything from the picture dictionary — every word there has a recording, so your child can check how it should sound.
Write
Trace the muharni and your first words with vowels, on paper.
Tracing worksheets — vowel signs & muharni
Trace the muharni and your first vowel-words, then copy them on the lines.
What your child will be able to do
-
Read Ready now
"…read words with any of the 10 matra, and read down a muharni row."
-
Listen Ready now
"…hear a word and pick which vowel sign it has."
-
Speak Ready now
"…make my own sentence by swapping one word in a pattern."
-
Write Ready now
"…write words with each vowel sign."
Use these any time
Questions parents ask
Some answers use Gurmukhi that is still being checked:
- What is a matra?
- A matra (ਲਗਾਂ ਮਾਤਰਾ) is a vowel sign — a small stroke added to a letter to change its sound. Level 1's letters each carry a built-in short "a"; the ten matra in this level give you every other vowel. One letter plus ten signs is why Gurmukhi can write any Punjabi word with only 35 letters.
- Why does the sihari sit before the letter?
- Sihari (ਿ) is written to the left of its letter but read after it — ਸਿ is "si", not "is". It is the one exception to left-to-right reading in Gurmukhi, and it trips up nearly every new reader. Point it out once, then let the muharni rows do the drilling.
- What is the muharni for?
- The muharni is the times-table of Gurmukhi: one letter read across all ten vowel signs. Reading down a row turns ten separate facts into one pattern, so a child who can read ਸ ਸਾ ਸਿ ਸੀ… can read those same signs on a letter they have never tried.
- My child knows the letters but still cannot read words. Is that normal?
- Yes, and this level is the bridge. Naming letters and blending them into a word are different skills, and the gap between them is where most children sit for a while. The "read a brand-new word" challenge at the end of this level is the real test — if your child can sound out a word they have never seen, they are reading.