Underhill Adventures
Oli the owl reads a book on a tree stump beside Ru the puppy, outside a round green door in a grassy hill.

Story-powered learning for growing minds

Reading adventures that help children think

Children read a short illustrated story, answer questions in their own words and choose what happens next, with Oli the owl or Ru the dog by their side.

Choose an adventure See how it works
  • Ages 7–11 · Years 3–6
  • Free-text answers
  • School & home
Four adventures to try

Choose an adventure

Pick Year 3, 4, 5 or 6, then Easy, Medium or Hard: 12 levels in every adventure, and a choice that changes the story.

A busy Greek camp on a beach with wooden ships and men carrying timber. Oli and Ru watch from a rock. Troy is on the hill. Myths & legends The Trojan Horse Help Odysseus win the war with the cleverest trick in Greek legend. Play Night in Bramblewick: tiny houses beneath a giant oak with doors in its trunk. Oli, Ru and two hedgehogs look on. Fantasy · starring Oli & Ru The Lost Lanterns of Bramblewick Help Oli and Ru bring the light back to a tiny village under an old oak. Play By a fjord, Uncle Bjorn loads a chest onto a longship while Astrid holds a bundle of wool. Oli and Ru sit on the bank. History · Vikings Astrid’s Voyage to Jorvik Sail a longship across the North Sea, ride out a storm and trade in Jorvik. Play Meri and her grandmother kneel on a mat holding a wooden box. Ru sniffs paw prints; Oli peeps through the window. History · Ancient Egypt The Mystery of the Missing Scarab Follow the clues in the tomb-builders’ village before the festival begins. Play
How it works

Simple steps that turn reading practice into a real adventure

  1. 1

    Choose your guide

    Pick Oli the owl or Ru the dog to support you on the journey.

  2. 2

    Read the story

    Short, illustrated passages written for ages 7–11, with questions pitched for Years 3 to 6.

  3. 3

    Answer to continue

    Type your answer in your own words, and make choices that change the story.

  4. 4

    Get support & rewards

    Your guide helps when you’re stuck and celebrates your progress with stars and streaks.

Your reading companions

Meet Oli and Ru

Every child picks a guide. Both react to what the child does, so the story feels alive and nobody reads alone.

Oli

The wise, calm guide

  • Gives hints that point back to the text, never the answer
  • Models careful reading: “Where in the story does it say…?”
  • Patient and reassuring when a child is stuck

“Let’s look for clues together. The answer is hiding in the story.”

Ru

The energetic, cheerful friend

  • Celebrates effort as well as right answers
  • Keeps the energy up with streaks and high paws
  • Bounces back from mistakes: “Have another go!”

“Woohoo! Every try makes your reading brain stronger!”

Why children (and adults) love it

Real comprehension practice that feels like play

Answers in their own words

No multiple choice to guess from. Children explain what they understood, and friendly checking accepts different phrasings and wobbly spelling.

Branching stories

Children make choices that change what they see and read, so every adventure feels like their own.

12 levels: your year, your challenge

Children pick their school year, then Easy, Medium or Hard. The year sets the reading skills asked about, matched to the national curriculum for that year. Easy adds quicker clues and a sentence starter when it is needed; Hard asks for a clear answer backed by details from the story. The Trojan Horse also rewords its passages for each year.

Stars, streaks & certificates

Rewards celebrate careful reading and effort, ending with a personalised certificate to print or share.

Try the demo

Type an idea, get a whole adventure

Story Builder: a child types a short idea and Underhill builds a complete adventure, with questions at the right level, checked for age-appropriate content. The demo matches ideas to three ready-made stories; the live AI version is coming soon.

Try the Story Builder demo
Example idea
A dragon who is scared of the dark
6 chapters · 8 questions · Year 4
For teachers

Built around KS2 reading

Curriculum-aligned comprehension practice that children actually want to do. Every question is tagged to a KS2 reading content domain:

  • RetrievalFind and record key information from the text (2b).
  • InferenceExplain characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives with evidence (2d).
  • VocabularyGive or explain the meaning of words in context (2a).
  • PredictionPredict what might happen from details stated and implied (2e).
  • SummarisingSummarise main ideas from more than one paragraph (2c).
  • Author’s choiceExplain how words and phrases are chosen to create an effect (2g).
  • Works on an interactive whiteboard for whole-class reading, or on iPads and laptops for independent work.
  • Runs in any modern browser with no installs or logins in this demo.
  • Class summary: every child gets a reading report card with their certificate. Turn on class device mode on a shared laptop or iPad to see each child’s scores and reading skills in one table, then print it or export a CSV.
  • Privacy: by default nothing about children is saved. In class device mode, results stay only on that device until you clear them. Nothing is sent to us.
Try a classroom demo Open the class summary
For parents

Reading without the battle

Help your child build stronger reading skills at home. Practice feels like an adventure, and you can see their progress clearly.

  • Short sessions of 10–15 minutes that fit around homework and bedtime.
  • Encouragement and gentle hints help children keep going instead of giving up.
  • A certificate at the end of every story gives you something to celebrate together.
  • Designed for children: no adverts and no chat with strangers.
Try it with your child
Where we’re heading

The road ahead

Underhill Adventures is in early development. Here’s what’s ready now and what’s coming next.

Now

Working demo

  • Four adventures, playable in any browser: the Trojan Horse, Bramblewick, Vikings and Ancient Egypt
  • Oli and Ru with reactive expressions
  • Year 3–6 × Easy, Medium and Hard levels, free-text answers and branching
  • Reading report cards and a class summary on shared devices
  • Story Builder demo with three ready-made stories
Next

Pilot with schools

  • A library of stories across history, science and myths
  • Class accounts that follow pupils across devices
  • Pupil progress across reading domains
Later

Stories from any idea

  • Live AI Story Builder for a child’s own idea
  • Website and app at underhilladventures.com
  • Family accounts for home reading
Coming soon

More Underhill Adventures on the way

Two new corners of Underhill are being built. You can try early examples of both now: they are unfinished, and things will change.

Underhill Maths early example: the Tables Tower screen. Oli the owl stands beside a stone tower drawn as four floors of times-table doors, from ×2 and ×10 on the ground floor, both marked all known, up to ×7, ×11 and ×12 on the top floor, with ×5 marked ‘Try this next’.
Early example

Underhill Maths

Story-powered maths for KS2 (ages 7–11). Cross the river at Fernford Crossing, climb Tables Tower to practise times tables and find the way through the Hedge Maze. Professor Harlen and Brog the bear drop in along the way.

Try an early example
Ru the puppy leaping for joy, paws out and mouth open in a happy bark.

Ready to turn reading into an adventure?

Jump into the Trojan Horse story and see how Underhill Adventures works. It takes about 10 minutes.

Start the adventure