How to use PEN Play
Step-by-step guides for parents, teachers and therapists - from creating your account to following your children's learning and wellbeing.
Getting Started
New to PEN Play? Create your account, choose your role and find your way around the portal.
Welcome to PEN Play
What PEN Play is, how the portal and the game fit together, and who it's for.
Read guideCreating your account
Sign up with email or Google, accept the terms, and verify your email with a one-time code.
Read guideChoosing your account type
Pick whether you're a parent, teacher or therapist - and add another role later if you need to.
Read guideSigning in & account security
Log in, mix Google and email sign-in on one account, reset a forgotten password, and verify your device once instead of every sign-in.
Read guideFinding your way around
A quick tour of the portal home, the top menu, switching language, notifications and your profile.
Read guideConnecting the game and the portal
How the Whartels game and the PEN Play portal find each other - the two QR codes, the four ways to link a device, and what travels in each direction.
Read guideFor Parents
Add your children, link the Whartels game and follow their learning and wellbeing.
The parent dashboard
Your family at a glance - wellbeing, playtime, recent activity and anything waiting for you.
Read guideAdding a child
Create a child's profile, give them a seat so they can play, and edit their details later.
Read guideLinking the Whartels game
Download the game and connect your child's device using the Student QR, a link request, or their Child ID.
Read guideUnderstanding your child's progress
Read the progress dashboard - mastery, domains, weekly reports, benchmarks, playtime and session history.
Read guideMood & emotional insights
Follow how your child is feeling over time, understand mood alerts, and track emotional comprehension.
Read guideApproving requests
Respond to schools, therapists and devices that want to connect to your child - and how declining works.
Read guideSubscription & billing
Start your free trial, understand seats and pricing, pay invoices, and change or cancel your plan.
Read guideFor Teachers
Join your school, build classrooms and track how your learners are doing.
Getting started as a teacher
Join your school, wait for approval, and understand what you can do once you're in.
Read guideBuilding classrooms
Create classrooms, add and enrol students, assign seats and manage the roster in bulk.
Read guideYour students & their progress
See every learner across your classes, open a student's full progress dashboard, and read the class mood.
Read guideInviting colleagues & school settings
Manage your school membership, invite fellow teachers, and check your billing from settings.
Read guideFor Therapists
Register your practice, run playgroups and monitor your clients over time.
Getting started as a therapist
Register or join your practice, wait for approval, and see what the therapist area offers.
Read guideRunning playgroups
Create playgroups, enrol clients, assign seats and manage the roster - the therapist's version of classrooms.
Read guideYour clients & their progress
See every client, open a client's full progress and mood dashboard, and read the playgroup mood.
Read guideReference
A plain-language glossary, troubleshooting help and answers to common questions.
How licensing & seats work
The seat model explained - billing accounts, licences, seats, trials, and exactly when a child can play.
Read guideGlossary
Plain-language definitions of the words you'll meet around PEN Play.
Read guideHow proficiency is worked out
What the proficiency figure actually means, what counts towards it, and why some skills show no number at all.
Read guideTroubleshooting
Fixes for the most common issues - sign-in, codes, game access, QR scanning, language and payments.
Read guideFrequently asked questions
Quick answers about cost, the trial, roles, devices, data and getting help.
Read guideStill need a hand?
Can't find what you're looking for? Our support team is happy to help.
Contact support