Welcome to the SmartyAnts FAQ

To get started in the SmartyAnts World, you must first register for an account here or by clicking the “Free Trial” button at the top of this page, where you’ll answer questions that help us tailor the experience to your child’s individual reading ability. This simple exercise enables us to determine the starting point for your child’s unique learning path.

When you register your child for the SmartyAnts World, your child chooses and names their virtual Ant avatar and selects and names three virtual Ant Friends. These Ant Friends are programmed to model good manners, positive teamwork and cooperation. They are fun and helpful in the learning process.

Also, during the registration process, you will have the opportunity to designate up to five e-mail addresses of people who wish to share in your child’s reading progress. We suggest including grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents and friends who would like to be kept up to date on what your child is learning. They will receive e-mails of the Daily Woof newspaper and virtual copies of the stories and music videos your child creates.

SmartyAnts is a revolutionary online comprehensive reading program that makes learning to read incredibly fun and effective. It’s the only system designed to match your child’s learning style and personality-ensuring they’re always challenged, engaged and rewarded when taking their first steps toward the power and enjoyment of a lifetime of reading. Go to the registration page to get your child started today on a free 14 Day Membership.

The SmartyAnts comprehensive reading program was developed by the members of our Educational Advisory Board: Dr. P. David Pearson, Dean Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Education; Dr. Robert Calfee, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University Graduate School of Education; and Mia Callahan Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Education.

We believe that the first time your child sounds out a new word and the first time your child builds and reads a story are magical, motivational, and emotional moments. Therefore, as soon as possible, we teach children the sounds of just enough letters needed to create and read their first story. We continue by teaching more letter sounds, more word-building, and more story-building through 67 stories, which take your child through the end of First Grade reading.

This curriculum has been transformed into the SmartyAnts World by a world-class team of animation, gaming, and children’s entertainment experts. Each time your child learns new letter sounds, builds new words, and creates new stories they receive virtual awards. These moments are captured in photos taken by the Camera Bee and appear in articles about your child’s accomplishments in the Daily Woof newspaper delivered by the virtual pet Dog.

We hope you and your child will find that the design, characters, games, rewards, songs and stories in the SmartyAnts World make learning to read a wonderful adventure.

When you enter the SmartyAnts World, you are met by Coach, a tall, friendly Ant, and Flea. Coach mentors your child’s Ant throughout the learning path, while Flea shows your child how the site works and helps introduce new games and concepts with boundless humor and energy.

Coach and Flea take your child’s Ant to the store to pick out some cool clothes to wear and a backpack to store the letters, words and story books your child will be awarded on their learning journey. As children play, they’ll earn virtual Smarty Coins which they can spend on virtual clothes and accessories for their Ant and Ant Friends, and virtual toys for their Dog – just another in a wide array of learning rewards your child will discover in the SmartyAnts World.

At the Dog Park, your child will adopt a virtual pet Dog which can match the Smart Pup you may have purchased. This virtual Dog will be your child’s loyal companion throughout the SmartyAnts World. If you have not yet purchased a Smart Pup and would like to, click here(link) for information on where to go to do so.

Next your child’s Ant heads to the Diving Pool, where your child plays a fun game to determine precisely where their personal learning journey should begin-from an introduction to letters and letter sounds all the way through First Grade reading. This helps the SmartyAnts system prepare a customized learning track.

Now Coach is ready to introduce your child and their Ant to their first Learning Level. They are shown one or more of the 150 Interactive Learning Videos every time a new fundamental reading skill is introduced. In these Learning Videos, Coach explains the concept, Flea demonstrates how it works, and your child can practice applying these concepts on the interactive blackboard.

Then, it’s on to the Activity Board, the portal to all of the Learning Games. At Smarty Ants, we know children have the most fun, stay motivated and learn more effectively when they’re able to choose where and how they learn. In the SmartyAnts World, your child is free to explore and choose from eight Skill-Building Games, two Story-Building games and a Reading Comprehension game. Whichever learning activity your child chooses, the content is adapted to their personal learning path. At each game, your child can pick the level of difficulty that feels right for them at that time. Children can switch games whenever they want, and their personal curriculum travels right along with them. From the eight Skill-Building Games, they learn letter sounds, word-building, rhyming and word automaticity(matching) for each of the 67 stories.

Throughout the SmartyAnts World , scaffolding has been developed to provide positive support for children as they learn new concepts. Scaffolds enable children to build on what they already know when learning new material. Once they have mastery of a new concept, the scaffolds are removed, allowing them to work independently.

In addition to exciting solo games, there are fun games based on teamwork with virtual Ant Friends. This allows your child to play on a team, tackle challenges with their Ant Friends and succeed by working together. As always, your child can choose their level of difficulty for maximum comfort, engagement and learning. Whether playing individual games or joining other virtual Ants in teamwork activities, your child will be learning the fundamental building blocks of reading.

In every Story Lesson, there’s an exciting moment when your child and their Ant have learned to make all of the new words required to build the next story. When this happens, your child’s Ant is asked to empty all of their new words from their backpack into either the StoryBot or the DogTop Computer games to bring their newfound knowledge to life.

After each new story is built, it’s ready to be printed out by your child to read and share at home. For each new story your child builds, the story is “published” as a virtual Story Book and Music Video, with your child’s very own Ant name on the cover. Children put these virtual Books and Videos in their backpack to bring to the Reward Room where they can be viewed and shared at any time.

We developed the Smart Pup because we know that music can be an incredibly effective way to help children learn and remember. When you connect your Smart Pup to your computer through the USB port (using USB cable), SmartyAnts will automatically select from more than 450 fun learning songs, and will download the songs that match the specific skills your child is learning. Children can take their Smart Pup wherever they go, to listen and learn, until they’re ready for the next download of songs.

At the SmartyAnts Recording Studio, your child’s Ant “produces” virtual music CDs of learning songs. In the studio, the virtual Dog sings with his backup band while your child chooses the musical instruments and even special sound effects for these songs. Learning how to read never sounded so good!

We believe that a critical aspect of developing great readers is to expose kids to children’s literature. The Story Game Show focuses on classic children’s books which are read to your child’s Ant and their Ant Friends. After each story is read, the contestants are quizzed about its characters, plot and theme as a way to build comprehension skills. Questions are answered by pointing and clicking on the artwork or the one-word answers on the screen. Children don’t have to be able to read to play; they just need to listen carefully as the story is read to them.

Operating Systems:

• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista or Windows 7
• CPU: 1.3GHz Pentium 4 or later
• Memory: 512MB RAM
• Video: 64MB Video RAM with Vertex Shader 1.3 or greater.
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Monitor Resolution: 1024×768
• Hard Drive Space: 2GB
• Apple Mac OS 10.5 or later
  • CPU: Intel Based Mac
  • Memory: 1GB (2GB recommended)
  • Video: 64MB Video RAM with Vertex Shader 1.3 or greater.
  • Monitor Resolution: 1024×768
  • Hard Drive Space: 2GB

Is my video card supported? ATI Intel nVidia

Yes, you can have up to three children linked to one email address, but each one requires their own subscription. The reason for this is because SmartyAnts is personally tailored to each child’s needs and skills and tracks their progress as they move through the SmartyAnts World. Multiple installs of the game will not be required. When on the launcher screen, a name will appear below the “Start” button along with directional arrow buttons. To select a different user, click the arrows until the name you want to log in with appears. Be sure each child knows which name is theirs so there is no confusion for them.

Yes, you can play SmartyAnts on multiple systems with the same account, but you must download and install the game on each system you wish to play on.

The current build of SmartyAnts does not run on mobile devices, however, the mobile version of the game is currently in development and will be released soon.

We recommend naming the ant avatar with your child’s name. It is an amazing thing for a young child to see their name on the screen while they play the game and it allows them to better identify with the avatar character. In addition to seeing their name, they will also hear it throughout the game as Coach tells them what they are learning and the Daily Woof articles are read to them about what they have accomplished.

If you do not want to use your child’s name, you can put any name up to 15 characters long into the name input field, as long as it does not violate any copyright laws and is not offensive. If you input a name that is not already recorded, it will be submitted for approval and recorded, if accepted. Until the name is recorded, your child’s ant will be called “Buddy” as a placeholder. Please be patient as this process can take some time.

Update your video drivers to the latest versions. This can be done by determining the video card type, going to the manufacturer’s website and downloading the latest version of the driver. If you have on-board video, go to your computer’s manufacturer’s site and get the drivers from them. The most popular video card manufacturers are nVidia and ATI. Links to their sites are listed here: nVidia ATI

Laptop users will need to get drivers directly from the manufacturer’s website.

This error means that the installer file was corrupted during download or did not download completely. Please delete the installation file and download a new version from the website by clicking the “Download”(link) link here or at the bottom of this page.

Windows: Double click the SmartyAnts icon that appears on your desktop after installation has completed. If you don’t see an icon on your desktop, you can launch the game from the ‘Start’ Menu under ‘All Programs’.

Mac: Find the game launcher and double click it. It will most likely either be on your desktop or in your Downloads folder. We recommend moving it to an easy to find location so that your child can launch the game themselves.

If your child already has a Smarty Ants account, you will launch the game and click the ‘Login’ button. There you will find the username and password fields to sign in with. Once you have done this the first time the game is launched, your child can simply click the ‘Start’ button on the game launcher page to start the game on subsequent launches. If your child does not yet have an account, you must first register for one. You can do this by going to our ‘Registration’(link) page or clicking the ‘Create an Account!’ button on the game launcher page.

Parents can reset their password anytime on the SmartyAnts website. To do this, click on the ‘My Account’ button at the top of this page, and then click the ‘Reset Password’ link. Enter the email address connected to the account and hit the ‘Reset’ button. You will then receive an email with your new password included. We recommend parents then change the new password to one that they will be able to remember more easily.

If you have a code from Smarty Ants, follow these steps:

1. Go to the website www.smartyants.com
2. Click the ‘My Account’ button
3. Log in with your email address and password
4. Select the ‘Subscriptions’ Menu option
5. Click the ‘Add Subscription’ link
6. Select ‘Free Trial Bonus’ option and click ‘Continue’ button
7. Enter the code in the input field and click the ‘Submit’ button
8. Click the ‘Confirm’ button

If you received a gift subscription in an email, follow these steps:

1. Go to the website www.smartyants.com
2. Click the ‘My Account’ button
3. Log in with your email address and password
4. Select the ‘Subscriptions’ Menu option
5. Click the ‘Add Subscription’ link
6. Select ‘Redeem Gift’ option and click ‘Continue’ button
7. Enter the code in the input field and click the ‘Submit’ button
8. Click the ‘Confirm’ button

There are two ways to download songs onto the Smart Pup.
The first is to connect the pup to the computer using the USB cord provided while the game is running and the child is looking at the Activity Board. An icon will appear in the upper right corner telling you if the songs and stories for the lesson your child is on have already been downloaded or if they are ready for download. The icon has three states.
If there is a red exclamation point, you do not have the songs and story from this lesson. To get the songs, click on the icon. A confirmation message will then appear. When you click ‘Yes’, the pup icon will turn grey and a progress bar will appear When it is done, it will turn green and a new pop up message will appear telling you to disconnect your pup to hear play with it. If the icon has a green check mark when you connect the Smart Pup to the system, you already have the songs and story from this lesson.

The second way allows you to download specific songs and stories onto the Smart Pup from any lesson in the game. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Launch the game
2. Click the ‘Login’ button
3. Connect the pup to the computer with the USB cord provided
4. Click the “Phonics Reading Pup” button that appears
5. Select lesson 1 or 2 from the left drop down menu
6. Select the song on the left menu and click the ‘Add’ button
7. Select any other lesson and any other songs and add them to the list on the right
8. Click the ‘Download’ button

For the most accurate results, this tool is designed to run only once when your child first starts playing the game. It determines where they should start out in the SmartyAnts World and cannot be run a second time.

The assessment pool is designed to take a child to the lesson corresponding to whichever diving level they were not able to complete.

• Fail Diving Level 1 >>> Level 1/Lesson 1 – Capital Letters
• Fail Diving Level 2 >>> Level 2/Lesson 2 – Lower Case Letters
• Fail Diving Level 3a >>> Level 3/Lesson 3 – Letter sounds
• Fail Diving Level 3b >>> Level 3/Lesson 3 – CVC Words
• Fail Diving Level 4 >>> Level 4/Lesson 21 – Silent ‘e’ Words
• Fail Diving Level 5 >>> Level 5/Lesson 29 – Consonant Blends
• Pass Diving Level 5 >>> Level 6/Lesson 32 – Consonant Diagraphs

You can access video options in one of two ways: a.) Launch the game and click on the ‘Login’ button. Then click on the ‘Options’ button. Resolution and screen mode controls are there. b.) From within the game, you can hit the ‘CTRL’ and ‘O’ keys on their keyboard to open the options menu. If you are on a Windows operating system, you can also toggle full screen/windowed mode by clicking the blue button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Unfortunately, Macs do not allow for true full screen mode, so this button will not be present in the interface.

Website Installation:

Click the Download link at the bottom of the page. Next, click the ‘Download’ button and save the file to an easy-to-find location. Go to that location and launch the installation application.

DVD Installation:

Once you have registered, insert DVD into computer and install the application.

To launch the game:

Mac users: go to the Applications folder and double click on the SmartyAnts icon.

Windows users: double click on the SmartyAnts icon on your desktop.

Click the Login button. Enter the email and password used to set up the account

Click on the Start button. Watch the introduction with your child through the assessment diving pool. For the most accurate results, please do not help your child during this assessment.

WARNING: All packaging materials such as tape, plastic sheets, wire ties and tags are not part of the toy and should be discarded by an adult for your child’s safety.

Before You Begin

Remove and discard the “Battery Protection” & “Try Me” pull tabs (if not already removed) located next to the battery compartment on the bottom of the Smart Pup. If the Battery Protector pull-tab is still inserted, the product will NOT activate. As long as the “Try Me” pull-tab is still inserted, the product will only perform a demo of the functions. Once this pull-tab is removed, normal play mode is activated.

Battery Replacement

NOTE: For best performance, remove all factory installed batteries and use new, alkaline batteries. Batteries included are for demonstration purposes only. Requires 3 “AA” (LR6) batteries.

• Lift fabric flap from the bottom of the toy’s base to show battery door.
• Make sure product mode switch is turned to OFF position.
• Have an adult unscrew and lift the battery compartment cover.
• Replace batteries as indicated on the polarity diagram (+/-) inside battery compartment (also shown in illustration). For longer life use only alkaline batteries. Requires 3 “AA” (LR6) batteries.
• Replace the battery door securely.
• Make sure the Mode switch on bottom of the Smart Pup is in the ON position (there are two “ON” positions, LOW volume & HIGH volume).
• Press the Smart Pup’s Story Paw (paw with book icon) to hear the Smart Pup read a story.
• Press the Smart Pup’s Music Paw (paw with music note icon) to hear one of several fun learning phonics songs. Press the Music Paw again to hear another song. When all the songs have been played, songs will start over from the beginning. All songs on the Music Paw relate to the story on the Story Paw. They include the alphabet phoneme song, rhyming songs, word-building songs, the sight word song, skill-building songs and the story song.
• To get new songs and stories for the Smart Pup, using the USB cable, connect it to the USB port in your computer. Then, launch SmartyAnts. New songs & stories are available automatically at the start of each new lesson.
• Smart Pup comes ready to sing 10 songs and tell you a story. We wrote songs for each of the 69 learning lessons in SmartyAnts to download at each lesson. At the beginning of a new lesson, your child will receive a message to download that lesson’s songs when they are on the Activity board. At this time connect the pup to download the songs by clicking the Pup icon with the red exclamation point. If you do not download at that time you can download at any time.