A sheep of their own

The Pasture

Kids start on the Pasture, a living meadow where every kid's sheep stands on the grass with a wooden name sign. The sky follows the clock — pink at dawn, blue by day, orange at dusk, starry at night with fireflies over the grass — and the seasons drift through as leaves, snow, petals or pollen. The windmill turns, birds cross the sky, clouds pass the red barn, and the sheep breathe while they wait and hop when tapped. On the family iPad the Pasture is a working farm: a plowed garden of corn, lettuce and pumpkins with a scarecrow, a wheat patch and a silo — and every so often a chicken steps out of the barn to do something silly: a dust bath, a climb up the silo, a moonwalk, a nap, a hoedown in front of the barn — or she roams the whole meadow: a tightrope walk along the fence, a doze under the tree, a sneeze in the flowers, a strut right through the flock, a game of hide-and-seek behind the haystacks, even a walk off one edge of the screen and back in from the other. And every now and then, on any screen, a cow leans into a lower corner, chews, blinks, says moo and backs out again — touch her face and she loves it: happy eyes, hearts, a long moooooo. The sheep keep their speech bubbles to themselves until they hop, then the bubble pops up for a moment with the next chore.

Hold the iPad sideways and the meadow fills out: taller hills put the whole farm above the flock, and the barn, the tree and everything on the land grow to match the sheep; a well stands beyond the silo and a birdhouse in the tree on every layout.

Turn on Holidays on the Pasture in Settings and the meadow dresses up for the season: jack-o'-lanterns, bats, a ghost and a black cat all October; a strutting turkey, corn shocks, a wreath of leaves and a harvest basket all November; snow on the hills and the barn roof, a lit tree, lights along the fence and a snowman with presents all December; hidden eggs, a bunny, chicks and tulips for the four weeks before Easter. It is off until you turn it on, and one switch covers the whole family. Some of it answers a tap — the ghost flies off to another haunt, the turkey gobbles and struts away, the snowman shivers and loses his hat, the bunny hops to a new patch, a hidden egg cracks open with a chick, a jack-o'-lantern gutters, the tree's lights flash — and the decorations keep to the edges, so nothing on the farm is ever covered.

A tap on their sheep opens their board. If a kid wants privacy from siblings on the shared iPad, they can have a kid PIN of their own.

The Today board

The board is one column of big rounded cards in the kid's own colour, grouped by time of day: morning, afternoon, evening, anytime. Each card shows the chore's picture, its name, what it pays and when it is due. One-step chores finish with an I did it! button right on the card. The sheep hops, confetti falls, and the chore moves to a Done today shelf at the bottom, where Oops — not done yet lives in case the tap was a mistake. Chores waiting for a parent say so; chores that pay on their own say +5 wool.

• Routines appear as one card with a Start button and the steps listed; the player takes it from there, one step at a time with a countdown ring. About routines.
• Up for grabs chores sit on a shelf any kid can claim; Together chores sit on every team member's board.
• Timed goals — reading, practice, time outside — start a countdown on the chore's sheet and count as done when it ends, even if the kid closes the sheet or goes back to the Pasture. The clock speaks the time left — halfway, five minutes, one minute, thirty seconds, time's up — from the iPad or a HomePod in the kids' room, and an Also running row on the sheet jumps to a sibling's clock.
• Read aloud speaks any card for kids who are not reading yet (a grown-up can give every kid the speaker button under Settings › The voice); the picture board replaces the words with big photos entirely.
• Locked rewards show at the top with how many chores are left until they open — the deal, made visible.

Wool, levels and the Fluff streak

Finished chores earn wool when they pay, and always earn experience toward the next pasture level. Levels unlock accessories; the sheep's wool visibly grows. A Fluff streak counts the days in a row with everything done — rest days neither break nor extend it, and an excused chore counts as kept. Seventeen badges mark real milestones: the first chore, a week of wool, ten routines, a photo proof, an early bird, a weekend warrior, a goal reached. None of this costs the parent anything, which is the point: the research on rewards says novelty fades in a few weeks, and what lasts is progression, choice and the feeling of helping. So flock duties — the unpaid chores everyone does — count for levels and the streak just like paid jobs.

The wardrobe

More than a hundred and thirty things to wear, one per spot, unlocked by level: hats from a bucket hat to a space helmet, crowns and tiaras, glasses and sunglasses, face paint, scarves, pearls, bow ties, collars and medals, capes, wings, a jetpack, a guitar, skates and flippers, balloons, a parachute, dragon wings, and little friends like a ladybug, a bee, a duckling, a kitten, a puppy, a snail, a frog and a small robot. Every item sits properly on the sheep — ears, horns and halos on the head, wings and packs out from behind the wool. Parents can put anything on from the kid's profile, and on devices with Image Playground a generated portrait of the sheep can replace the drawn one everywhere.

The Barn Store

Rewards hang with price tags on plank shelves inside the barn: privileges, treats and outings, priced in wool or money. A kid taps Ask for it, a parent approves, and the inventory remembers what they have earned. The heart saves a wish and says about how many weeks away it is at that kid's pace. More about rewards.

Their own calendar

Kids get the same family calendar as parents, read-only: the week grid with everyone side by side, month dots, a day list. Knowing what tomorrow holds is half of not forgetting it.

Questions