Tauranga woman Sarah Brown has created a new ABC learning game to assist children to learn the letters and letter sounds in a fun and easy way.

Formerly a Year 1 teacher in primary schools for 10 years, Sarah Brown moved to teaching as an Early Childhood Education reliever and is currently a nanny.

Sarah designed the game – Pirates and Crocodiles Treasure Island! – to help the children she was caring for learn their letters and letter sounds in a fresh and fun way.

Originally, Sarah drew the game on paper, before she got the game made into a graphic full-colour game in December 2015.

'As a teacher I knew that if children did not know their letters and letter sounds at [the time of] starting school they often could be up to a half a year behind in their reading.”

Sarah is promoting her game to parents and ECE centres, kindergartens and Year 1 schools by dressing up as a pirate and playing the game with the children.

'It's a promotional fun hour of learning with real plastic treasure,” says Sarah.

'The children are really enjoying the experience. The parents who have the game say it is fun and that their children really enjoy playing it and are quickly learning their letters and letter sounds.”