A calm, predictable reward chart
Some children love a surprise. Others like to know exactly what's coming, and find sudden sounds or a lot of movement on a screen too much. That includes many autistic children, and plenty of others. A reward chart can still work well for them: it just needs to be calm and predictable.
Show the whole journey first
A chart is easier to trust when your child can see every step from the start: what the missions are, how far it is, and what's at the end.
- In the app, “See the whole trail” shows every badge, every treat on the way and the reward at the top, and the trail says how many steps it is to the next badge.
- The first time, a short picture story called How it works shows what happens, before any steps are walked.
Keep the reward exactly as agreed
Choose the reward together, then keep it as it is. A reward that changes halfway can feel unfair. In the app the reward stays on your child's trail all the way to the top, and Pablo and Poppy never promise anything you haven't chosen yourself.
Let your child start the walk
When you add steps, they can wait until your child taps “Let’s walk!”, so the walk happens when they're ready to watch it rather than as a surprise. Find it in Settings, under “Your child starts the walk”, on each phone or tablet.
Turn the sound and movement down
Under Settings, “How the app feels” has two switches:
- Sounds, for the games and celebrations.
- Less movement, for calmer walking and celebrations.
If your phone or tablet is set to reduce motion, the app starts with both already calm.
Make surprises predictable
At each badge Pablo and Poppy hide a little activity to do together. You decide how much of a surprise it is:
- A plain envelope opens it straight away, with no game.
- The Calm set switches every surprise to quiet, gentle ones in one tap, and you can switch off any that don't suit.
- No surprises at all is fine too: switch them off and the trail is simply missions, badges and the reward.
A missed day costs nothing
There are no streaks to break and nothing is taken away. Steps your child has walked stay walked. If you forgot to add a mission, “Forgot yesterday?” lets you add it for the day it was done.
A reward chart that feels like an adventure
Pablo & Poppy turns your child's missions into steps along an illustrated trail, with badges on the way and a reward you choose together waiting at the end. It works on your phone or tablet, even offline.
