Discover Chinese and English through play.

Ages 3 to 6 (Preschool to Kindergarten). Three- and four-year-olds usually listen, color and trace the first rows. Five- and six-year-olds can trace and then write on their own. Older beginners enjoy it too.

Yes. Every word, example and activity direction has audio. Scan the QR code on the page with a phone or tablet and your child hears it. English is on every page, so you always know what the word means.

Each page has a QR code that opens that word on pandasproutkids.com. It plays the word and an example in Mandarin and shows the strokes being written. No app or account is needed. The audio uses a natural-sounding Mandarin computer voice, checked by a native speaker.

Pinyin spells Chinese sounds with letters, and the marks over the vowels show the 4 tones. It's how children in China learn to sound out words. The book shows pinyin with every word, plus an easy “sounds like” English spelling, and explains both on the 4 Tones and How to Say Pinyin pages.

Simplified, the characters used in mainland China and most US Mandarin programs.

No. This is Level 1: 40 first words, mostly 6 strokes or fewer, starting with the easiest. Children who already speak some Mandarin at home use it to start reading and writing characters.

About 5 minutes a day: listen to the word, color the picture, trace, then write. An activity every few words reviews what they learned. There's an 8-week plan at the back if you want a routine, but any order works.

The theme your child loves most. The Level 1 books teach different words and can be done in any order.

The audio stays online for as long as the book is in print, and at least 5 years from purchase. Book owners can also download every audio file for their book, so you'll always have a copy.

Yes, for their own students. Classroom packs are coming.