The reward shop is where Heddy Points turn into something your child actually wants — and it's built so you stay in charge of every single reward. The in-app catalogue is a fixed, curated set of small digital items for Heddy, at set prices, with no loot boxes and no cash value. Your child can browse freely and "ask to claim", but a point is only ever spent when you approve it. The rewards that motivate best usually pair that digital catalogue with a real-world reward you and your child agree on at home. Nothing is redeemed behind your back, and nothing has a price your child can be pressured into.

A reward only works if the child genuinely wants it — but it only stays healthy if the parent stays in control. This article is about setting up both.

How the shop is put together

The catalogue is deliberately simple and safe. Every item is a small digital reward for the Heddy owl, with a fixed price in points. There are no physical goods yet (that's a future addition, and it's held back behind its own privacy review because it would mean collecting a delivery address). Crucially, there are no random rewards anywhere — spend the points, get exactly the item. No mystery boxes, no "only today" countdowns, no shake-and-win animations.

The items are grouped into four collections, and each one does a different motivational job:

Collection What it is The job it does
Sticker badges Small collectible badges (Star, Explorer, Bookworm, Rocket) Quick wins — a first reward inside week one; collect all four and a free Collector's Frame is granted automatically
Heddy's wardrobe Outfits Heddy actually wears (scarf, reading glasses, graduation cap, satchel and more) Identity — the reward is seen on Heddy every visit, not filed away in a drawer
Perches & scenes Whole backdrops behind Heddy (oak branch, library, observatory) Saving goals — worth holding points for over a couple of weeks
Ladder exclusives One special item per owl level Aspiration — the owl ladder shows exactly what the next level unlocks

The pricing is tuned to the same gentle pace as the ladder: a badge is reachable in the first week, a wardrobe item most weeks, a scene as a multi-week goal. So there's always something close enough to feel achievable, and something bigger to aim at.

You set what your child actually receives

This is the honest heart of it. You don't have to build or price anything — the catalogue is ready-made and safe — but you decide what your child ends up with, in two ways:

  1. You approve every claim. When your child asks to claim a reward, the request lands on your dashboard and nothing happens until you tap Approve. That's what "you stay in control" means in practice — the full walkthrough is in Ask-to-Claim: Approvals That Keep You in Control.
  2. You can add your own rewards at home. Many families use the points as a shared signal for a real-world reward the app doesn't handle — "when you reach Barn Owl, we'll have that film night" or "a full sticker set earns a trip to the library". The app gives you an honest, effort-based number to hang that on; the real-world reward is entirely yours to set.

That second point is where a reward becomes one your child will actually work for. The digital items are lovely, but you know your own child — and you can attach the thing that genuinely motivates them, at a milestone that feels fair.

Making rewards motivating, not manipulative

A few things worth getting right when you set rewards up:

  • Tie them to effort, not marks. Points already reward effort rather than correct answers, so a home reward attached to reaching an owl level rewards showing up and trying — not test scores. That keeps the pressure off.
  • Keep milestones a stretch, not a sprint. Reaching for Snowy Owl over a term is more meaningful than a reward every single day. The daily cap of 60 points is on your side here — it stops the whole thing turning into a grind.
  • Let rest stay free. Never turn a reward into something your child loses by resting. The points system never punishes a quiet week; your home rewards shouldn't either.
  • Talk about it. The most powerful moment is often approving a claim together — it turns a reward into a shared "well done", not a silent transaction.

If you're weighing up whether any of this risks becoming bribery, that's a genuinely good instinct to have — we take the question seriously in Do Points and Rewards Just Bribe My Child?.

What the shop will never do

For completeness, the permanent guardrails: no reward ever has a cash value — points can't become money, a discount, a free month, or a gift card. There are no chance-based rewards. There's no urgency language. And there's no linkage anywhere between rewards and upgrading your subscription. It's a recognition and celebration mechanic, kept firmly clear of anything that behaves like a currency.

FAQ

Can my child buy rewards without me knowing?

No. Nothing is ever redeemed behind your back. Your child can browse the shop and "ask to claim" an item, but the actual spend only happens when you approve it on your dashboard. There is no way for a child to spend points themselves anywhere in the product.

What kinds of rewards are in the shop?

Right now they're small digital items for the Heddy owl mascot — collectible sticker badges, outfits Heddy wears, and backdrop scenes — at fixed prices. Nothing physical yet. Many parents also pair the points with their own real-world rewards at home, like a family film night at a milestone.

Are there any random or "mystery box" rewards?

Never. Every item has a fixed price: spend the points, get exactly that item. There are no loot boxes, no chance mechanics, no limited-time countdowns, and no way to turn points into money. That's a deliberate, permanent rule.

Duke Harewood built aitutors.me for his own KS3-aged daughter. The catalogue is fixed and safe on purpose — the reward that really works is usually the one you set at home, hung on an honest, effort-based number. Updated 09 July 2026.