About Play Roly

What is Play Roly?

Designed to delight, inspire confidence, and introduce the joy of reading to every young learner, Play Roly is a free, at-home, playful learning activity trusted to teach kids the essential first steps to reading. Founded on decades of science of reading research and inspired by profound personal experiences, it is recommended by teachers and internationally renowned learning experts to teach kids the essential foundations of reading at the optimal age of 3 to 5 years old.

For Play Roly founders, it’s personal

Founders of Play Roly, Morgan and Lisa Sturdy, have felt the anguish that every parent of a struggling reader feels when watching their child fail to learn to read in a classroom setting. When their son no longer woke up excited to go to preschool, they were concerned. Diligent probing unearthed their son is dyslexic, which posed an unexpected reading challenge that could not be easily solved. Further probing revealed that not only is their son dyslexic, so is his highly successful father, Morgan.

A solution to the challenges associated with learning to read

Fortunate to have the experience, passion, energy and resources to take action, Morgan and Lisa have dedicated more than five years to working with experts to develop a solution that introduces the first steps to reading successfully to all children. While learning to read for any dyslexic child is very difficult, private intensive intervention worked for their son, and he learned to read alongside his classmates at school. Morgan and Lisa experienced the joy of seeing their struggling young reader learn to love to read age-appropriately—despite his challenges.

This led to Lisa approaching Dr. Linda Siegel and dozens of other learning experts about applying the decades of research data into a practical learning application, which culminated in the development of the Play Roly at home learning activity. Realizing many parents are not in this position—Morgan and Lisa decided to make Play Roly available, free, to all kids as the very first step to learning to read.

The facts about unaddressed learning difficulties

Current statistics reveal that 25% of children do not respond to learn-to-read methods employed in classrooms—this has a negative impact on learning success and kids’ lives. Furthermore there is a tragically high incidence (83%) of unaddressed learning difficulties amongst homeless youth (from a Toronto study by Dr. Linda Siegel) and an equally tragic incidence (75%) of unaddressed learning difficulties amongst prison populations. And we know that a common cause of reading difficulty relates to preschool age development during the optimal early intervention window of between 4 to 6 years of age. Play Roly addresses these issues for all children, including those with and without known learning disabilities.

Teaching The Way They Learn Corp.

Lisa and Morgan formally embarked on this journey in 2017 and were joined in 2018 by board member and globally recognized authority in the field of reading research and learning disabilities in children, Dr. Linda Siegel. Teaching The Way They Learn Corp was established in 2020 and Play Roly’s first 26-video sing along series was launched in 2021. Based on feedback from kids and parents, a second, modified 26-video series was launched in 2022.

Today, Play Roly is a transformative ‘start to read’ activity for young children, designed to augment early identification, intervention, and structured literacy strategies, and is currently being used by children in over 100 countries around the world. Play Roly has one goal—a world where every young child can experience the joy of reading, despite the obstacles, because the impacts of learning to read age-appropriately can last a lifetime

Hear from a happy Mom

My five-year old) daughter read me her first book the other day! Play Roly was a huge help to her. She could remember letter sounds easily, but she struggled to blend them together. Now when she gets stuck on a word, she will sing the word, as if playing with Roly, to figure it out. I also have a three-year-old daughter. I found it's a great game to do with the kids together, as they both enjoy singing the song and playing the game.

Hear from a happy Son

Play Roly was a huge help to her. She could remember letter sounds easily, but she struggled to blend them together. Now when she gets stuck on a word, she will sing the word, as if playing with Roly, to figure it out. I also have a three-year-old daughter. I found it's a great game to do with the kids together, as they both enjoy singing the song and playing the game.