What Happens Next?
Changes, in order: ice melting, a puddle drying up, a bean growing roots, a shoot, then leaves.
How it plays
Pictures of something changing, mixed up. Ruby Roo asks “What comes first?” and your child puts them in order: an ice block melting in the sun, a puddle drying up, and a bean growing roots, then a shoot, then leaves. At the end Ruby Roo reads it back, from the start. A picture in the wrong place just goes back to try again.
What it's for
Changes, in order: ice melting, a puddle drying up, a bean growing roots, a shoot, then leaves. There is no score to lose and no way to fail: a wrong move is met with a gentle nudge, and a level ends when it's done.
Away from the screen: A bean in a jar
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Fold a damp paper towel into a clear jar and slide a dried bean between the towel and the glass.
- Put it somewhere sunny and keep the towel damp, not swimming.
- Look every day. Roots come first, after about two or three days.
- Draw what you see each day, in order.
Three questions to ask while they play
- What happens to ice in the sun?
- Where did the puddle go?
- What grows first on the bean?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- An ice block in the sun. What happens next?
- Roots first, then a shoot, then little leaves.
Taking turns on one device: Take turns choosing the next picture.
If they find it hard
Start with the ice block: it's the one they've seen happen. Melt one together on a plate, then play.
Every fact, and where it comes from
What Ruby Roo says in What Happens Next? was checked against the page it links to.
- Sunlight carries energy; when it shines on ice, some of that energy is absorbed and warms it, and the ice melts. (Questacon)
- When water is heated it changes from a liquid to a gas, water vapour: that's evaporation, and it's why puddles dry up on a sunny day. (Logan City Council)
- On damp paper towel in a sunny spot, a bean's first roots appear in about two to three days, a shoot after about a week, and small leaves a few days later. Don't flood it: damp, not swimming. (Health and Wellbeing Queensland)
What it practises
- Putting a story in order. Retelling a story from its pictures: what happened first, next and last.
AC9EFLE03 (English, Foundation); AC9EFLE05 (English, Foundation); AC9EFLY05 (English, Foundation) - Life cycles. How living things grow and change: egg, tadpole, frog; egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly. Life cycles are a Year 3 outcome, so this is a gentle early start.
AC9S3U01 (Science, Year 3); AC9S1U01 (Science, Year 1)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for children from birth to five) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
What Happens Next? is part of Science Lab. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.
Updated