Doug Dohring helped build Neopets into a wildly successful Internet game for grade-school kids then sold it to Viacom for $160 million. Now he’s trying another online venture, this one aimed at an even younger demographic.

Dohring and many of the same people who helped him build Neopets have spent the last three years at their company, Age of Learning, designing an educational website for the preschool and kindergarten set. ABCMouse.com, which launched last month, features games, puzzles and other activities that help little ones learn the ABC’s, colors and math.

Dohring, chief executive of Age of Learning, said Neopets, which lets kids care for virtual pets, was just for fun. ABCMouse is focused on imparting basic knowledge to tots.

“I thought that if we did something as engaging as Neopets that was 100 percent educational, what a great resource it would be,” he said.

Age of Learning developed ABCMouse at its 60-person office in Glendale. When the website launched last month, it had already recruited 10,000 subscribers at $8 a month or $79 for a year. The company also provides the software to public elementary schools for free.

Kids who sign up for the website make an avatar of themselves and follow the game’s storyline to advance through its curriculum. The site allows kids to play each other online, but access is strictly limited to people they know.

Dohring said the program’s curriculum is meant to complement what children learn in school.

“It’s a full curriculum program on its own,” he said. “But it’s not our intention to replace preschool.”