Snail Sprint is a racing game you play with the keyboard. You get one snail, two other snails line up next to yours on a garden track, and the first one over the finish line wins. Your snail only moves when you type, so every correct letter is one step closer.

The letters come from everyday English words like cat, apple and garden. By the end of a race you will have typed plenty of them.

How to Play Snail Sprint

Find the word in the middle of the screen. A short hint sits right under it, such as “a pet that purrs” for cat. If the word is new to you, the hint usually gives it away.
Type the word one letter at a time. Each correct letter turns green and pushes your snail forward a step.
Pressed the wrong key? Your snail wobbles a little and the game counts one mistake. Nothing needs deleting. Press the letter that is still waiting and carry on.
As soon as a word is finished, the next one appears. The track is 40 letters long, so a race takes quite a few words.
Finish first or second and the next race moves up one level. Finish third and it moves down one.
Need a break? Press Esc to pause, and press it again to keep going.

After every race, a results screen shows your time, your typing speed and how many of your keys were correct.

Five Levels

Level 1: three-letter words such as cat, sun and hat
Level 2: four-letter words such as fish, book and rain
Level 3: five-letter words such as apple, house and cloud
Level 4: six-letter words such as garden, school and rabbit
Level 5: seven and eight-letter words such as teacher, rainbow and elephant

The two rival snails get faster as the levels go up. On level 1 they type at about 8 words per minute, and by level 5 they reach about 20.

Quick Info for Teachers

Age: Grades 3 to 5. Second graders can try levels 1 and 2 with a teacher nearby.
What students practice: reading letters on the screen while typing, finding keys without staring at the hands, and spelling common English words.
Word topics: objects, animals, colors, weather, school and family. Every word comes with an English hint, so students do not need a dictionary open beside them.
Time: one race takes about 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes, depending on the level and how fast the student types. It fits into the first or last 5 to 10 minutes of a lesson.
Equipment: a physical keyboard. Tablets that only have an on-screen keyboard are not a good match.
Pressure: low. Mistakes only add to a counter on the results screen, and the level adjusts by itself, so nobody gets stuck or knocked out.
Look and sound: soft colors and snail characters. There is no sound, which suits a quiet classroom or computer lab.
Group use: each student plays alone on their own computer. The whole class can race at the same time without forming teams.
Ideas for class: ask students to read each word aloud after typing it. Or have them write down three new words they remember after a race. Another option is to pair students up, with one reading the hint and the other typing.