This is a game designed to teach basic reading skills - ie. phonics. Players learn the sounds associated with letters and letter combinations by "popping" the appropriate balloon. The game starts by teaching the sounds associated with each letter, then players must match the sound to the letter. Finally, players must identify the correct sound combination (word) and then make words.

The letter/sound combinations to be taught can be found on the first page of this document here:

http://chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/childhood/professionals/learning/literacy/Phonics-patterns.pdf

Game Play

 Three balloons appear, each featuring a different letter from the list above. A sound plays - for example, "p" as in "pet"-  the player attempts to 'pop' the balloon that matches the sound. If they pop the correct balloon, they receive a point. If they pop the wrong balloon, the sound for that letter is heard and they lose a life. When all lives are lost, the level is restarted. The player must score three points to move to the next level. Each level has three rounds, one point per round, three balloons each round. Levels become increasingly difficult as more balloons appear with different letters. For example, the first level shows "p", "a" and "b" only in each round. The second level shows "p", "a", "b", "e", "t" and "i" with round one showing two familiar letters ("p" and "a" for example) plus one new letter, and building through the rounds, and consequently through the levels.  

Bonus levels could have three sounds that need to be selected from up to ten balloons to form a simple Consonant-Vowel-Consonant word like "pat".