Creatures: how they hatch and grow up
Finishing a list hatches its creature straight away. Growing it up is what asks your child to come back tomorrow — and that is the part doing the real work.
🥚 Eleven creatures, eleven lists
Not every list has one: eleven of them carry a creature egg — Otto on Ocean, Hoot on School, Ripp on Dinosaurs, and so on. You can see all eleven on the You tab. Before it hatches you see its silhouette inside the egg, so your child always knows what they are working towards rather than staring at a padlock.
Two stages: hatching, then growing up
It hatches when the list is finished — every word in it spelled correctly once. That is the same moment the list is done, so one good session earns something straight away. The creature arrives small, sitting in its shell.
It grows up when every word is spelled right again on another day — not twice in one sitting. This is the only rule in Spelly that asks your child to come back tomorrow, and it is deliberate. A round can be retried until it goes right, so getting every word in one session measures persistence. Spelling the same words correctly again the next day measures whether they stuck overnight — which is the thing a spelling test actually checks.
Both stages are permanent. A wrong answer later moves the numbers, but nothing your child has earned is ever taken back.
Reading the bar
Every list card and every shelf slot carries one bar with a notch in the middle. It measures the whole journey, not just today:
The left half fills blue as each word is spelled right for the first time.
Reaching the notch hatches the creature.
The right half fills green as each word is spelled right again, on another day.
A full bar goes gold — the creature is fully grown.
So getting every word right in one sitting fills the bar to the notch, and that is where the egg opens. The second half is the part that takes another day.
The number beside it counts steps, not words — a twelve-word list needs 24, because every word needs two good days to finish the journey.
Common questions
My child finished a list. What happens?
If that list carries a creature, it hatches straight away — the bar reaches the notch and the egg opens. The creature arrives small. Play the same list again on another day, getting every word right, and it grows up.
Does playing the list twice today grow it up?
No — a second correct answer on the same day does not count towards growing up. The rule is specifically about returning on a later day, because that is what shows the spelling stuck. Hatching, though, needs only the one good round.
Why did the number go down?
A word that is missed loses its credit and needs another clean day. The results screen tells you how many need another go. The creature itself is never taken back.
Can a creature be taken away once it hatches?
Never. Hatching is permanent, even if a word is missed afterwards.
Do creatures cost sparks or money?
Neither. They are earned by practising and nothing about them can be bought.
Is the shelf shared between languages?
No. Each practice language has its own set of eleven creatures, because the word lists differ.