How to use BrainSprout

A simple guide to setting BrainSprout up, playing it so your child stays interested, and keeping their results accurate — including the one switch to tap before a grown-up plays.

Before you start

Set BrainSprout up once, on the child's device, so play is calm and — just as important — so it actually saves.

1. Use one dedicated device. A laptop or tablet the child links with BrainSprout. Remove or hide other apps like YouTube so there is nothing to wander off to.
2. Open the right app. India: play.geniuslane.com. UK: play-uk.geniuslane.com. A child only exists in their own region's app.
3. Sign in as the parent, then pick the enrolled child. Tap the child already in the list — do not type in a “new player”. Only a signed-in, enrolled child's play is saved; otherwise the app plays offline and records nothing.
4. Turn on Focus Mode. Lock the screen to just BrainSprout so the child cannot leave mid-game — Guided Access on iPad/iPhone, App Pinning on Android. The app shows the exact steps under For grown-ups → Keep them in the game, and offers it the first time you open it.

A BrainSprout session, step by step

Keep it short, warm and daily — ten happy minutes beat a long, tired sitting.

1. You play first, and show you love it. Before you start, tap “I'm a grown-up — tap this before YOU play”, play a game, smile, react. Your delight is what makes the child want a turn.
2. Hand over — but tap the grown-up switch off first. This one step keeps your play out of your child's results (see the next section).
3. The child plays their games. BrainSprout shows the day's games, one per area (reading, maths, visual-spatial, thinking, everyday skills). They do not need all of them every day.
4. Sprout guides them. The green sprout greets the child by name and suggests what to play; the child can tap to talk to it by voice.
5. Finish on a win. Stop while it is still fun, so they want to come back tomorrow.

Grown-ups: play without affecting your child's results

Tap “I'm a grown-up” before you play, and tap it off before your child does. BrainSprout measures your child's development from how they play. If you play — even just to show them, or to warm them up — while the switch is off, your adult answers are recorded as your child's. Over a few sessions that can wrongly push one or two areas far above the child's real level, and it then shows on their clinical report.

1. Before you play: tap the switch (it turns purple). Now nothing you do counts as the child.
2. Before your child plays: tap it off again. Now their play is measured normally.
3. If in doubt, don't play the games for them. Show interest, cheer them on, sit beside them — that never affects their score.

Where everything is

Everything a child touches is big and obvious; everything a grown-up needs is tucked behind a quick gate.

What the results mean

Results show your child's own play — nothing else — and they build up as the child plays. Each area is a developmental age, next to what is typical for the child's age: a picture of where they are now, to guide what to practise — not a pass or fail. Real change is gradual, so a big jump in one area over a few days usually means a grown-up played. Your geniuslane team reads the full report with you.

If something looks wrong

• “Playing offline — not saving” banner. The app can't record this child's play — sign in as the parent and tap the enrolled child (not a typed-in new player).
• The summary stays empty after playing. The play didn't reach the server (offline), or it was grown-up play — check the banner and that you picked the right child.
• One area jumped far ahead of the rest. A grown-up likely played with the switch off — tell your geniuslane team so they can correct the record.
• The child isn't in the list. You may be on the wrong region's app — India uses play.geniuslane.com, UK uses play-uk.geniuslane.com.