Pibbit's Greenhouse

About Pibbit's Greenhouse

Pibbit is a little robot who has never seen anything grow, so your child gets to be the gardener. Dig a hole, drop in a bean, cover it up, then turn the time dial and watch a root push down through a window in the pot before the sprout comes up. Five plants, each with its own needs: a sunflower that goes pale in the shade, a tomato that won't grow in the cold, a cactus that hates soggy soil, and a fern that likes the shade. Nothing ever dies. A droopy plant perks up once you fix what it needs.

Pibbit's Greenhouse is one of our science & nature games for kids. This one plays in the iPhone and iPad app rather than in the browser, but 33 of our games are free to play right here — browse the full library to find them.

How to Play

• Dig a little hole, drop the seed in and cover it with soil.
• Turn the big dial to make the days go by. Hold it to go faster.
• Watch the plant. Droopy, pale or not growing means it needs something: water, light or warmth.
• Drag the watering can over the pot, pull the shade blind, or slide the heater knob to help it.
• Grow it all the way to seeds, then put its life cycle in order for Pibbit's journal.

Tips & Tricks

• The little drops next to the pot show how wet the soil is. Three drops is plenty for most plants, but far too much for the cactus.
• A seed doesn't need light to sprout, only water and warmth. Once it's up, it needs the sun.
• Tap the ladybug, the bees and the snail. Each one has something to tell you.

What Kids Learn

This is a science toy built around one question young children love: what does a plant need? Each plant brings in one new idea. The bean seed stays asleep in dry soil until it gets water. The sunflower grows pale and stretches up in the shade, which is what real seedlings do when they're short of light. The tomato sits still in a cold greenhouse until the heater goes on. Then the cactus turns soft and yellow in soggy soil, and the fern's fronds go crisp in full sun, so children find out for themselves that plants don't all want the same things.

Along the way they watch a whole life cycle: the root comes out first (there's a little window in the pot to see it), then the sprout, the leaves, the flowers and the seeds. Some of the details are ones adults forget, too. Bean flowers pollinate themselves, tomato flowers get shaken by bumblebees, and ferns never flower at all. They make spores instead. Every stage goes into Pibbit's journal with the day it happened, and at the end children put four pictures of the plant's life in order.

• What plants need to grow: water, light and the right temperature
• The life cycle of a flowering plant, from seed to seed
• Different plants need different things, and a plant shows you when something is wrong

Curriculum links

For teachers and homeschooling parents, here is where Pibbit's Greenhouse lines up with what children are taught at school:

• NGSS K-LS1-1: Describe what plants need to survive
• NGSS 2-LS2-1: Investigate whether plants need sunlight and water to grow

What Age Is Pibbit's Greenhouse For?

Made for ages 3 to 8. Three- and four-year-olds can play it as a calm watering-and-watching toy: Pibbit says everything out loud, the controls are pictures, and no plant can die. Five- to eight-year-olds get more out of the detective side, working out from the droopy leaves or the pale stem which of the three things the plant is missing. It pairs well with Sink or Float Lab for a first taste of real science.

Tips for Parents

Before you fix a droopy plant, ask what they think it needs and why. Guessing first is half of doing science.

Grow a real bean in a clear cup with a damp paper towel. The root comes out first, just like in the game, and children love checking on it each morning.

Point out that the cactus and the fern want opposite things. Then ask where in your home each one would be happiest.

Try It Without a Screen

• Sprout a dry bean or a few lentils on damp cotton wool by a window and keep a picture diary of the days.
• Put one seedling in a dark cupboard and one on the windowsill for a week, then compare them.
• Look under a fern leaf in a park or garden for the brown spore dots.

Pibbit's Greenhouse — Frequently Asked Questions