Bushmates
A pet that growswhen they learn.
Children practise more when there is a reason to come back, but most rewards in apps either sell coins or punish a weekend away. Every child raises a quokka, a sugar glider or a platypus. Maths, spelling and reading grow it up and earn it gear they can see, and weekends never cost it a thing.
Bushmates
Wattle Pip · Young quokka
Saturday and Sunday
Rest days
3
Australian animals
4
stages to grow
5
pieces of gear earned
40
things in the Market
Growing up
Not a cartoon to collect: a real animal, raised by learning.
A platypus stays a platypus, and a quokka a quokka. It hatches as a joey and grows young, then grown, and every step is a new animal on screen, earned by care, practice and the bond the child builds with it.
- Stage 1
Egg
Care for it and it hatches
- Stage 2
Joey
All eyes and wobble
- Stage 3
Young
Bigger, braver, learning fast
- Stage 4
Grown
Raised by the child's own learning
Grown by learning, never by the clock
A reward that comes from simply logging in teaches nothing. A Bushmate moves up a stage when care, practice and the bond between them say so; waiting does nothing.
Practice in the pet's own words
Mini games that ask one easy question to unlock a prize are not practice. Bush Kitchen makes a target number from number tiles. Word Garden builds a word it hears from letter tiles. Both are marked on the server and scaled to the child's year.
Studying anywhere feeds it
Homework, lessons and games across the portal gather tucker for the pet and coins for the Market. The pet page says what came in while they were away.
Gear earned by learning
What they practise, their pet wears.
Children rarely see their own progress. Here maths earns maths gear and word practice earns word gear, so a child can see their learning on their pet. The rarest piece takes both.
Earned with maths
Maths gear
- 🧣 Counting Scarf
- 🧮 Abacus Charm
Earned with spelling and reading
Word gear
- 📕 Bookworm Bandana
- 📖 Storybook
Maths and words alike
The rare one
- 🌼 Golden Wattle Crown
Maths gear
The Counting Scarf, then the Abacus Charm, earned with maths practice.
Spelling and reading gear
The Bookworm Bandana, then the Storybook, earned with word practice.
The rare one
The Golden Wattle Crown, only for a Bushmate raised on maths and words alike.
Care is practice
Training the pet is real practice.
Parents worry a pet game is a distraction from learning. There is no question to unlock a button: in Bush Kitchen the child builds a number from its parts; in Word Garden they hear a word and spell it. Every answer is checked on the server, and the smarts it earns grow the pet.
The damper needs exactly
16 tucker
7 + 9 = 16. Spot on!
Fill the gaps
Weekends and holidays
Time away never hurts the pet: no guilt on a Monday.
Weekends are rest days
A pet that suffers over a weekend makes a child anxious, not keen. Needs pause on Saturdays, Sundays and the days the centre is closed, on the centre's own clock.
Never hungry or sad from time away
Needs stop well short of empty, and the bond between child and pet never falls while they are apart.
A warm welcome back
After a break the pet says it missed them and is glad they are back. There is no guilt to come home to.
Bushmates
💛 Wattle Pip missed you! They kept your spot warm and are so happy you're back.
While you were away, your studying gathered 18 tucker.
The Market
40 things to earn, every one you can see.
- Wattle Seed Damper
- Berry Bowl
- Lamington
- Bush Kite
- Number Blocks
- Cosy Bed
- Story Shelf
- Billabong Fountain
- Party Hat
- Round Glasses
- Wattle Bowtie
- Twilight Den
Earned, never bought
Parents do not want a child asked for money inside a learning app. Coins come from studying, nothing in the Market is sold for money, and gear earned by learning cannot be bought at all.
Everything shows
Hats, glasses, scarves and things to hold are drawn on the animal. Furniture and themes change its room, and food and toys show the moment they are used.
Bushmates
Wattle Pip · Young quokka
Always one tap away
On the home screen, and in the parent portal.
On the student home
One tap from the home screen and the Game Room, showing the animal, its stage and what it is wearing.
Parents see it too
Parents want to share in what their child is proud of. Each child's card in the parent portal names their Bushmate and its stage, and says when it would love a visit.
Safe by design
Names are picked from a list of friendly bush names. A child never types one.
There is no chat and no free text anywhere in Bushmates.
Every reward is worked out again on the server, so coins cannot be faked.
In short
Bushmates
Bushmates give every child a quokka, a sugar glider or a platypus to raise. Maths, spelling and reading grow it up and earn it gear they can see, and weekends never cost it a thing. It grows from maths drills, spelling and reading and typing, and parents see it in the parent app.
Questions centres ask
Can children buy things for their Bushmate?
No. Gear is earned by learning, never bought.
Does missing a weekend hurt it?
No. Rest days never cost it a thing.
