BabySmash! is an interactive educational game designed to help babies and toddlers learn letter and number recognition through playful interaction. As children press keys on the keyboard, colorful shapes, letters, and numbers appear on the screen accompanied by spoken words and fun sounds.
Key Features:
Colorful shapes with happy faces (Circle, Heart, Hexagon, Star, Triangle, and more)
Text-to-speech for letters and numbers
Fun sounds and giggles to encourage play
Multi-monitor support for wider viewing areas
System key lock to prevent accidental exits
Auto-updates via GitHub Releases
Audience & Benefit:
Ideal for parents of babies and toddlers who want a simple, engaging way to introduce their children to letters, numbers, and shapes. The game creates a fun learning environment while keeping young minds entertained and curious.
Available for installation via winget on Windows, BabySmash! offers an accessible and intuitive tool for early childhood education without requiring complex setup or additional software installations.
README
BabySmash!
A game for babies who like to bang on the keyboard.
As babies or children smash on the keyboard, colored shapes, letters and numbers appear on the screen and are spoken aloud to help with letter and number recognition.
BabySmash blocks most keyboard shortcuts, but Windows touchpad gestures (like three-finger swipe for Task View) are handled at the OS level and cannot be blocked by applications.
To prevent accidental exits via touchpad:
Open Windows Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Touchpad
Under Three-finger gestures, set "Swipes" to Nothing
Optionally disable four-finger gestures too
Linux
Installation
Option 1: Package Manager (Recommended)
Debian/Ubuntu:
# Download the .deb package from the latest release
wget https://github.com/shanselman/babysmash/releases/latest/download/babysmash_*_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i babysmash_*_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get install -f # Install dependencies if needed
Fedora/RHEL/CentOS:
# Download the .rpm package from the latest release
wget https://github.com/shanselman/babysmash/releases/latest/download/babysmash-*.x86_64.rpm
sudo rpm -i babysmash-*.x86_64.rpm
# or on Fedora:
sudo dnf install babysmash-*.x86_64.rpm
After installation, BabySmash will appear in your application menu under Games!
To run from terminal:
babysmash
Option 2: Manual Installation (Tarball)
Download and extract:
tar -xzf BabySmash-linux-x64.tar.gz
Install dependencies:
# For text-to-speech
sudo apt install espeak
# For audio (one of these)
sudo apt install pulseaudio-utils # for paplay
# or
sudo apt install alsa-utils # for aplay
Run:
./babysmash
Add to Application Menu (Manual Install Only)
If you used the tarball (manual installation), you can optionally add BabySmash to your desktop's app launcher: