STEM
MicrobeLab
Microbiology Adventure for Tweens — microscope-zoom core loop, microbiome simulator, named microbe characters (Lacto, Bif), immune-response minigame. Beneficial microbes foregrounded; COVID-trauma-sensitive (Vee).
▶ Play it nowBuilt for sittings of about 20 minutes on the screen. That is our design budget, not a measurement.
Meet your mentor
Every Spark & Anvil app has a friendly mentor character that demonstrates, asks, and patiently scaffolds learning. On-device AI personalizes the mentor's responses to your kid's progress — never connecting to a server, never collecting data.
Mentored by Cilia
#33CCBB Characters who teach
Meet the cast
MicrobeLab's characters are microbes, each showing one kind of tiny life. Lacto lives in yogurt and your gut, Yeast puts air in bread, Photo turns sunlight into air, Net links plant roots underground, Spore stands for germs that can make you sick (an optional lesson), and Guard is the body's immune defense. Crumble, Thrive, Shimmer, and Colony cover decomposers, microbes in extreme places, glowing microbes, and microbes that work together. Cilia is the mentor, and the app never uses COVID scenarios.
Lacto
Lactobacillus + helpful-bacteria — 'Friend in your food. Friend in your gut.'
Read chapter →
Yeast
Saccharomyces + helpful-fungi — 'I make air inside bread.'
Read chapter →
Photo
Cyanobacteria + photosynthetic-microbes — 'Sunlight. Then air. Then everything else.'
Read chapter →
Net
Mycorrhizal-fungi + nitrogen-fixers — 'Forests talk through me.'
Read chapter →
Spore
Pathogens (opt-in gated) — 'Some friends. Some not. All real.'
Read chapter →
Guard
Immune cells (T-cell / macrophage / B-cell) — 'I check IDs. Patient + careful.'
Read chapter →
Crumble
Decomposer microbes that break down dead leaves and scraps into rich soil, so nothing is wasted and everything begins again.
Read chapter →
Thrive
Extremophile microbes that make a home in the hottest, coldest, saltiest places, showing life finds a way almost anywhere.
Read chapter →
Shimmer
Bioluminescent microbes that turn energy into their own soft glow, lighting ocean waves and partnering with animals like tiny lanterns.
Read chapter →
Colony
Microbes that build biofilms together, cooperating and protecting each other, because they are far stronger as a community than alone.
Read chapter →
Browse all chapters → · What's distributed-narrative methodology? →
What's inside
Learning goal
Microbiology Adventure for Tweens — microscope-zoom core loop, microbiome simulator, named microbe characters (Lacto, Bif), immune-response minigame. Beneficial microbes foregrounded; COVID-trauma-sensitive (Vee).
Question kits
8 curriculum-aligned question kits, 47 questions in all, mapped to recognized standards.
On-device AI mentor
FoundationModels-powered hints, feedback, and adaptive difficulty — all running locally.
Mentored by Cilia — on-device AI, no data leaves the device.
How MicrobeLab handles your kid's data
- ✅ All progress, settings, and AI-generated content stays on the device
- ✅ No analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs
- ✅ Free — no ads, no in-app purchases
- ✅ No personal information collected from children — in line with COPPA (updated by the 2026 FTC amendments)
- ✅ No chat with strangers — play-together rooms use a short code and preset emotes, never typed messages
MicrobeLab runs on ForgeKit — the open-source Swift Package Manager framework that powers every Spark & Anvil app. ForgeKit ensures consistent accessibility, COPPA compliance, and design language across the portfolio, so your kid's progress and preferences feel coherent across every app they touch.
Coming to the App Store
MicrobeLab is in active development. Email us to hear when it ships — no marketing, no spam, just a one-shot launch announcement.
Email me at launch
