Games / Learning Games / Story Sleuth / Guide
Story Sleuth
Detective Biscuit the beagle has a pile of little mysteries on the desk. Your child reads each short story, answers the clue questions, and pins the answers to the case board until the case is closed.
What your child learns
Story Sleuth practices reading for meaning, the part of reading that comes after sounding out words. Every question asks about something in the story, and every answer can be proven with a sentence from it. That habit of going back to the text to check is one of the biggest skills in Grades 1 to 4.
- Key details: who, what, where and when questions about the story (Grade 1 and 2 reading standards).
- Text evidence: after each answer, the game highlights the sentence that proves it (Grade 3).
- Word meaning from context: what does crept, soggy or gleaming mean here? (Grades 2 and 3)
- Why and how: cause and effect, and how a character felt.
- Predicting and main idea: what will happen next, and what is the story mostly about.
How it works
Each case starts with a short original story of 5 to 8 sentences: a missing mitten, purple pancakes, a piano that plays itself at midnight. Your child can read it alone or tap the read-aloud button to hear it while each word lights up as it's spoken. Tapping any sentence reads just that one. For the youngest level the story is read aloud automatically.
Then they tap Find the clues! and the questions come one at a time, each with three answer choices and a speaker button to hear any answer. Right answers become clue cards that fly onto Biscuit's case board. The last question solves the mystery, and a big CASE CLOSED stamp lands on the board. A case takes three to five minutes.
Levels and how it adapts
| Level | Reading level | Cases | Questions per case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pup | Grade 1 | 11 | 3 |
| Hound | Grade 2 | 11 | 4 |
| Top Dog | Grades 3 to 4 | 11 | 4 |
Two perfect cases in a row promote your child to the next level. A couple of cases with lots of misses move them back a level for practice, and they can switch levels on the title screen any time. New cases favor the question types your child finds hardest, and the Case Files screen shows a bar for each detective skill.
Wrong answers are where the learning happens. After a first miss, Biscuit sniffs out the clue: the sentence that holds the answer turns yellow and is read aloud. After a second miss the game shows the answer and the sentence that proves it, and the rest of that case gets a gentle underline under the helpful sentences. Stars go by misses: none for 3 stars, one for 2. There's no timer.
Rewards
Solved cases fill the Case Files with stamped folders, and solving more of them earns detective badges, from Junior Sleuth after the first case to Agency Legend after all 33. Stickers for the shared Sticker Book come for the first case, the first perfect case, each new badge and each promotion.
Today's Case is one story picked for the day, the same for everyone at that level. It has its own score and keeps a day streak going.
Tips for grown-ups
- After a case, ask: which sentence gave it away? The end screen even prompts your child to tell you.
- At bedtime, stop partway through a book and ask what will happen next, and why they think so.
- Pick an interesting word from a book and guess its meaning from the words around it before you look it up.
- Younger readers can read along out loud with the highlighted words. It's good fluency practice.
Privacy and safety
No ads, no accounts, no chat and no tracking, and your child never types a name. Solved cases, badges and stickers are saved only in the browser on your device. The only links in the game go to our other learning games and the Sticker Book.
Questions
Is Story Sleuth free?
Yes. It's free to play in any browser, with no ads and no sign-up.
What grade is Story Sleuth for?
Grades 1 to 4, about ages 6 to 10. Pup cases suit first graders, Hound cases second graders and Top Dog cases third and fourth graders.
Can a child who is just learning to read play?
Yes. Every story, question and answer can be read aloud, and Pup stories read themselves automatically.
Are the stories scary?
No. Every mystery has a friendly answer, usually a pet, a sibling or the wind.
What is text evidence?
The exact words in a story that prove an answer. Story Sleuth highlights that sentence after every question so kids get used to looking back and checking.
