For parents of kids who sigh at history
For parents of kids who sigh at history: three taps find the hook that fits your child.
1 On a free afternoon, my kid goes for…
2 Their focus lasts about…
3 Tonight, screens are…
Free on iPhone · 6 cases free| Topic | Textbook version | Detective version |
|---|---|---|
| Rosetta Stone | Found 1799. Deciphered 1822. | One decree for Ptolemy V, written three ways. Which script cracked the other two? |
| Pompeii | Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. | Which day, though? The evidence disagrees, and you get to weigh it. |
| The Norse in Vinland | Vikings reached America around AD 1000. | Tree rings in cut wood point to one exact year: AD 1021. |
| Ötzi the Iceman | A mummy over 5,300 years old. | Found by hikers in 1991. What can his gear tell us, and what can't it? |
Sources: the British Museum's Rosetta Stone record; the 2021 Nature study dating Norse wood at L'Anse aux Meadows to AD 1021; the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology on Ötzi.
Make history fun for kids by turning facts into questions they can settle with evidence: put events in order, compare two sources, or decide what a clue proves, matched to what your child already likes doing. A date to memorize is a chore; a disputed date to investigate is a case.
Same facts, different verb: memorize becomes decide.
The quiz above sorts kids into one of four hooks. Here is the full map, so you can mix them as your child changes.
Give them a sequence to rebuild.
Tonight, no screen: Write five events from one story on sticky notes, shuffle them and time how fast they get the order right. Then ask which one they were least sure about, and why.
In PastRush: Chronology steps inside each case, and the Which Came First? mode, where they tap the older of two events.
Give them a place before a date.
Tonight, no screen: Open a map and find where one event happened, then measure how far it is from home. Places stick before dates do.
In PastRush: Where in the World? (drop a pin on a real map) and the 3D globe with the Time River.
Give them a set to finish.
Tonight, no screen: Start a shoebox of 'history cards': each card is one event with a drawing and a year. Ten cards, then line them up.
In PastRush: The Album: 245 globe stories as cards to collect, earned by playing, never sold.
Give them a claim to knock down.
Tonight, no screen: Read one confident sentence from a book or video and ask: what is the evidence, and does it go too far?
In PastRush: What can we conclude?, where they sort claims into supported and going too far, plus the five-claim Daily Evidence Check.
Pick the hook, not the topic. The topic can follow.
An illustration, not a testimonial. Homework says "Write three facts about Pompeii." Your ten-year-old writes "volcano, AD 79, ash" in eleven seconds and is done with history forever.
So you change the question: "Historians argue about which day it happened. Want to see why?" Now there are two clues that disagree, and someone has to decide which one is stronger. Twenty minutes later the homework has the same three facts, plus a sentence that starts "The evidence suggests…", which is the sentence teachers hope for.
Kids don't hate the past. They hate being told it is settled.
Swap the question. Instead of asking them to remember a date, ask them to decide something from evidence: which came first, which source to trust, what a clue can and cannot prove. Match the format to what they already enjoy, whether that is puzzles, maps, collecting or arguing.
The App Store rates it 9+, citing infrequent cartoon or fantasy violence and infrequent guns or other weapons. The reading is real case-file text, so most kids under about 10 will enjoy it more with a parent next to them.
Six of the twelve investigations are free, plus the daily modes. Cases 7 to 12, every story collection on the globe and the Master tier come with one optional purchase that the App Store lists as PastRush Pro Lifetime at $99.99. It is one-time, not a subscription, and works with Family Sharing.
No ads, no account and no tracking, according to the listing. Class mode hides purchases and outside links on shared devices.
Some are trivia with a timer. Look for games that make kids order events, compare sources and say what evidence cannot show. Those are the same moves historians make, and they transfer to schoolwork.
Short. Ten to twenty minutes with one clear question beats an hour with a worksheet. Stop while they still want to know the answer.
We make PastRush: History Detective. These are its App Store screenshots.
One Daily Evidence Check a day: five claims, supported or contradicted. Start with the six free cases.
PastRush: History Detective on the App Store · Updated November 2026