A pretend shop for real play.

TillieWorld turns an iPad into a working toy till — scan the shopping, ring it up, take the money, count the change. Built for children who can read, and for children who can't yet.

How it works

Children build their own shop, stocking it with whatever they like, then serve customers who come in and ask for things. There's a picture till for younger shopkeepers and a calculator till for older ones, and a receipt that rolls out line by line as each thing is rung up. Menus, shop signs, play money and loyalty cards print on your own printer.

Every item is shown three ways at once: as a picture repeated once per item, as a written label, and read aloud in a friendly voice. A four-year-old and a nine-year-old can play the same game side by side.

What's inside

• Two tills — pictures for pre-readers, a calculator keypad for confident counters
• Seven shops to run, from a Lemonade Stand to a Smoothie Bar, and you can change anything: add any item, name it, price it, pick its picture
• Customers who place orders out loud, with tap-to-repeat (an add-on)
• Cash and card payment play, including counting out change
• Printable menus, shop signs, play money and loyalty cards
• Separate profiles, so each child keeps their own shop
• Go Shopping with a list, and a vending machine where you're the customer
• Make yourself: build a little you, from hair to dressing-up
• Tidy-up jobs that fill a reward jar, checked by a grown-up
• Play Together: two iPads in the same room, no internet needed
• Add-ons: customers, a hands-on kitchen, a delivery van, and extra shops and outfits

Made to be kind

There is nothing in TillieWorld to lose, fail or run out of. Get an order wrong and the customer shrugs and takes it anyway. The patience timer is switched off unless you want it, and running it down just means the customer wanders off — no penalty, no sad noise.