About

a small story about a big habit

Curious Kea is an interactive story for curious kids: closer to a book that talks back than to a video game. Every expedition starts with a wild theory and a patient witness, and puts a child between them with the deciding vote. It is written and drawn by hand, in a notebook first, and then made to work in a browser.

Why

Children are told a great many things and are very rarely shown how anyone knows them. The habit it practises is small enough to carry anywhere:

It is the same habit whether the question is what made a footprint or whether the thing you just read is true. Seven-year-olds are naturals at it, given a story to do it in.

How an expedition goes

Every expedition walks the same loop, in story. Kea has a theory (it is usually wrong, and always fun). Your child gets to:

  1. Make a claim. Pick a theory, or "I'm not sure", which is a proper answer here.
  2. Tag the where-from. Saw it, was told, read it, guessed, worked it out.
  3. Set the Sure-o-Meter. Just guessing, pretty sure, or really sure. Locked before anyone looks.
  4. Predict, then check. Say what you would see if you were right. Then go and see.
  5. Change your mind, or don't. Either way you say why, and Rock keeps the records.
  6. Write the Wonder Log. What you used to think, what you think now, and why.

Those five are the whole reward system, and they are earned for the moves, never for being right first.

Why a kea, and why a rock

Kea, mid-step: an olive mountain parrot with a long curved beak and an eye full of intent.
Kea
Rock: a grey faceted boulder, patient by construction.
Rock
Kea, drawn in ink: a mountain parrot in profile.

The kea is a mountain parrot from the South Island: clever, curious, destructive in a friendly way, and famous for taking things apart to see what they are. It also hides a flash of orange under its wing that you only see when it flies. That flash is the story's one colour: it appears at the moment the crew works something out.

Rock, drawn in ink: a boulder with a small face, sitting on rubble.

Rock is a boulder that has been in its valley for a very long time and keeps records of everything it has seen. Only what it has seen. It is not an oracle; it is a witness with limits, and it says so.

Kea has the theories; Rock has the records; the child in the middle gets to decide. How Rock came to be under the wrong mountain is a mystery the crew took five expeditions to solve.

Where it is up to

Eight expeditions in five packs, with more on the shelf. Everything is free to play in the browser, works offline once loaded, and collects nothing. Every expedition has a card for grown-ups. It is early: if something is confusing, wrong, or too long, that is useful to hear.

Start at the top; each one stands on its own too.

First Expedition

  1. Kea & Rock and the Hungry Wind start here · about 12 min
    Kea's buried snack is gone. Kea blames the wind. How would anyone check on a wind?
    play for grown-ups

The Past

  1. Kea & Rock and the Giant Chicken Expedition One · about 18 min
    A footprint bigger than Kea, in mud gone hard. Nothing that made it has ever been seen alive. So what did?
    play for grown-ups
  2. Kea & Rock and the Bones Nobody Saw Expedition Two · about 16 min
    Bones older than Rock, and nobody ever saw the animal. Not even Rock. Now what?
    play for grown-ups

Rock's Origin

  1. Kea & Rock and the Missing Glacier Expedition One · about 15 min
    Rock doesn't match the mountain it sits under. And Rock can't remember arriving.
    play for grown-ups
  2. Kea & Rock and the Slow Clock Expedition Two · about 15 min
    How long has Rock sat in this valley? Nobody was counting. Some things count by themselves.
    play for grown-ups

Weather

  1. Kea & Rock and the Certain Sky Expedition One · about 15 min
    Kea can always tell tomorrow's sky. Just ask Kea. Rock, meanwhile, kept a tally.
    play for grown-ups

Seasons

  1. Kea & Rock and the Drifting Sun Expedition One · about 20 min
    The coldest morning yet. Kea says the sun itself is drifting away. How would anyone check on the sun?
    play for grown-ups
  2. Kea & Rock and the Leaning World Expedition Two · about 20 min
    Winter keeps coming back. On time. Kea wants to know what winds it up.
    play for grown-ups

Who makes it

Curious Kea is made by Matt, a parent in Aotearoa New Zealand. Every expedition is tested at home first, by two resident play-testers who are not shy about what is boring. Their verdicts have cut more lines than any editor.

Get in touch

Write to [email protected]. Matt reads every message, and answers.