FAQ
All your questions,
one page.
Everything educators and directors ask us about Maloo.
What is Maloo?
Maloo turns a two-minute description of your group into a complete, printable, screen-free activity card: materials, setup, steps, adaptations, and inclusion strategies, shaped to your ages, your space, and what’s on your shelf. You plan on a screen so children never learn from one.
Why not just use ChatGPT?
You could, and some educators do. Here's what you'd be doing yourself: writing a long, careful prompt every time; re-explaining your group's ages, ratios, materials, and restrictions in every conversation; checking the result against choking hazards, allergy conflicts, and age-appropriateness on your own; and reformatting the answer into something you can print and hand to a colleague.
Maloo is built on the same class of technology as general-purpose AI chatbots, but it includes features a general-purpose AI chatbot doesn't have: a classroom profile it never forgets, prompts refined over months of testing with real educators, an independent second check of every card against a child-safety rubric before you see it, and a print-ready card at the end. A general tool gives you a draft. Maloo gives you tomorrow's activity.
How does Maloo handle safety?
Every card is generated with safety considerations built into its design for the age you select, then independently checked against a child-safety rubric, including age-appropriateness, materials, and the restrictions in your profile, such as allergies. Cards that fail the check are regenerated, not shown.
And the honest part every educator already knows: no tool replaces your judgment. You know your children, your room, and your day. Every card says so, and every activity assumes adult supervision.
Is Maloo really screen-free?
Yes, by conviction, not just by feature. Screens are for your planning; children get paper, materials, movement, and each other. Nothing in a Maloo activity asks a child to look at a device.
Does Maloo collect any information about children?
No. Maloo is a tool for adults. Children never use it, log into it, or appear in it. Classroom profiles describe a group in aggregate: age range, group size, materials, approach. The profile fields instruct you not to enter any child’s name or personal details, and entries are screened for name patterns before saving. We have a plain-language statement on this that program directors can request for their files.
What ages does Maloo cover?
Four ranges: Toddler (2 to 3), Preschool (3 to 4), Kindergarten (5 to 6), and Early Elementary (7 to 8).
How does Maloo handle inclusion and IEP classrooms?
Every card includes Inclusion & Access strategies organized by access barrier (motor, communication, sensory and regulation, social participation) rather than by diagnosis, so you get classroom-level modifications you can use the same day. If your profile says you run an inclusion or specialized classroom, activities are designed with those needs at the center from the start. A clear line is drawn on every card: these strategies support a classroom, and they never replace any child’s individual IEP or 504 plan.
Does Maloo align to my curriculum approach?
Your profile tells Maloo your approach (Reggio Emilia, Montessori, HighScope, play-based, and others), and activities are designed in its spirit, with the developmental focus tagged on every card. Maloo does not claim alignment to any state’s standards documents; formal standards mapping may come later.
What if a card is almost right but not quite?
That’s what refine is for. One tap makes an activity calmer, shorter, more challenging, or heavier on movement, and the refined version saves as its own card, with the original untouched. Educators tell us this is the feature they end up using most.
What do I actually get with each activity?
A complete printable card: the activity, materials from what you said you have, setup, step-by-step flow, adaptations by age, inclusion strategies, and extension ideas. In color, or in a print-ready black and white version that photocopies cleanly.
How does the free plan work?
One complete activity every month, no card required, delivered by email. It’s the full product, not a sample. If Maloo earns a place in your week, the Educator plan is $9 a month.
What’s the difference between Educator and Program?
Educator is one login for one person, up to 100 activities a month, with your own profile and library. Program is for centers and schools: one shared program profile that shapes every educator’s activities, unlimited educator seats at up to 100 activities each, a shared library your program keeps even when staff changes, and a director dashboard with central billing. If you’re choosing for a team, book a demo and we’ll walk you through it.
Who is behind Maloo?
Maloo is built by a small team in Brooklyn, founded by a mother who watched her daughter’s teachers spend their evenings planning from scratch. Activity design is shaped by advisers in child development and early intervention, whose review keeps every card grounded in real classroom practice. You can meet them on our About page.
Get started today
Start planning with
what you already have.
Maloo helps early childhood educators turn real materials into meaningful learning.
One free activity a month. No card required.
