The science
Sidekick is built around published child-development research, and we link every study. We have not yet run our own study of whether Sidekick changes children's habits, so nothing here says Sidekick is proven to work. It says what the research found about each technique, and what Sidekick does with it.
Play and conversation
Guided play
Research on guided play finds it can teach some early skills better than free play alone.
In Sidekick: our word and number games are built as guided play, with hints when your child is stuck and the answer after a couple of tries.
Skene et al. 2022, Child Development: a review of 39 studies, children aged about 1 to 8.
Back-and-forth conversation
Children learn language through back-and-forth conversation. In one trial with 117 children aged 3 to 6, an AI that asked questions during a story helped them understand it about as well as a person asking the same questions.
In Sidekick: it talks with your child, not at them. The trial used a scripted story agent, not an open-ended chat like ours, so it doesn't show what Sidekick's chats do.
Romeo et al. 2018, Psychological Science; Xu et al. 2022, Child Development (the trial).
Practice with words
Spelling and word games give your child practice with words, letter by letter, at their level.
In Sidekick: Spelling Bee, Word Scramble, Secret Word and Math Challenge. This describes the activity, not a result: we don't claim they improve reading or spelling.
Griffith et al. 2020, Pediatrics: a review of learning apps for young children.
Habits
Goals
Research on changing children's habits points to goals working best alongside feedback and simple if-then plans.
In Sidekick: you pick the habits. Now and then your child's sidekick brings one up in a chat or a bedtime story, with a reason a child can understand. That is the goal part only: Sidekick doesn't yet give feedback on the habit or make plans with your child.
Breitwieser and Reinelt 2026, British Journal of Psychology; Jones et al. 2021, IJBNPA.
New foods
Young children often need many small tastes of a new vegetable, commonly cited as 8 to 15, before they accept it.
In Sidekick: eating veggies is a goal you can pick. Catch it has a healthy-eating theme, but it isn't a tasting activity, and games on their own have not been shown to change what children eat: a review of 20 trials found no clear effect on diet.
Birch and Marlin 1982, Appetite; Fildes et al. 2014, J Acad Nutr Diet; Liu et al. 2024, Nutrients (the review of games).
Bedtime routines
A consistent bedtime routine is linked to better sleep in young children.
In Sidekick: bedtime is a goal you can pick, and a bedtime story can carry a sleep lesson.
Screens before bed
Screen use is linked with later, shorter sleep in most studies, and the AAP advises no screens in the hour before bed.
In Sidekick: with pictures off, the screen dims to near black after 20 seconds and the story keeps playing. It is still a screen, so we don't call it screen-free.
Hale and Guan 2015, Sleep Medicine Reviews; AAP 2016, Media and Young Minds.
Brushing teeth
Dentists recommend brushing for two minutes, twice a day.
In Sidekick: brushing teeth is a goal you can pick, brought up now and then.
Design that pulls kids back
Many apps for young children use designs that pull kids back to play more, like characters urging them to keep going.
In Sidekick: no ads, and no streaks or prizes pulling your child back.
You and your child
How parents guide media
Studies of how parents guide their kids' media find that rules help with time, and talking with your child about what they did helps most with the risks.
In Sidekick: PIN-locked settings, and a weekly view with things to talk about tonight.
Chen and Shi 2018, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly; Collier et al. 2016, Developmental Psychology.
A grown-up joining in
Children learn more from media when a grown-up talks with them about it.
In Sidekick: the weekly view gives you a few things to ask your child about tonight.
Strouse et al. 2013, Developmental Psychology; AAP 2016, Media and Young Minds.
Knowing how your child uses AI
Pediatricians recommend knowing how your child uses AI.
In Sidekick: the weekly view shows you what came up, and alerts show in your parent area.
AAP HealthyChildren.org, How AI Chatbots Affect Kids; AAP 2026, Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents.
What we have not measured yet
- We have not run our own study of whether Sidekick changes children's habits, eating, sleep, brushing or learning.
- In the studies above, a parent, teacher or trained adult usually led the tasting, the routine or the programme. Sidekick is built to support what you do, not to replace it.
- No study shows that in-app alerts change what happens to children. Alerts are there so you know, and automated checks can miss things.
- We don't know yet whether a habit brought up now and then in chats and stories changes that habit.
What's next: a small pilot with families
We're planning a small pilot where families who opt in tell us, with one tap a day in the parent area, whether the habit they chose happened. Nothing new is collected from children. A pilot this small can't prove cause and effect, and we'll share the result even if it shows no difference.
Every link above was checked in October 2026. Spotted a study we should read, or think we've overstated one? Email [email protected].