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The Great Stink

In this episode

This episode is one video with 2 short stories. Each story gets its own review and score.

Good

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 3

Stimulating

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The Great Stink

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This program is stimulating. It actively demands attention and can feel intense. For the recommended age, this may be on the more intense side. The pacing is fast. Images follow each other quickly, leaving little time to pause and take in what is happening. The sound is soft and supportive. The visuals are busy, with a lot of movement and frequent changes.

One clear question drives the whole episode: where is the great stink coming from? Events follow each other in order, with a recognisable beginning, middle and end as the friends gather clues and reach an answer, and each action leads to a sensible result so the mystery stays followable. The main caveat is that the science ideas, such as why warmth carries a smell, stack up densely, which is a lot to hold onto for a child at the younger end.

The emotional register stays light and safe throughout. Reactions to the bad smell are played for gentle comedy rather than fear, and the friends treat each other with patience and support as they work the problem together. When something throws them, it is resolved soon after, so tension never lingers. A few bursts of excitement and disgust arrive a little abruptly, but nothing here unsettles a young child.

This episode stands out for showing children how to think a problem through. Ada and her friends notice the smell, ask questions, form ideas about its cause and test them one by one until they find the source. The investigation is their own idea, driven by curiosity rather than handed to them by an adult. Each guess leads to a next action, so the cause-and-effect of their reasoning is easy to follow and genuinely models how to figure something out.

Language is clear, purposeful and full of real meaning, with the friends explaining their thinking in complete sentences. Science words like 'evidence' and 'experiment' are used correctly and in context, and most talk informs or describes rather than just filling space. The one caveat for a three-year-old is that some of this vocabulary sits above their level, even though the conversation around it stays concrete and explanatory.

The episode connects directly to the real world. The children practise observing, questioning and testing, habits a child can carry into everyday life, and the closing live-action segment shows a real scientist examining cheese in a laboratory, tying the smell theme to something tangible. The settings are an ordinary home and play space with a pet cat, and the friendships and teamwork mirror familiar situations. Light imagined visualisations of science ideas stay grounded enough to keep the learning usable away from the screen.

More information

Ada Twist centers a Black girl and her family, joined by friends of different backgrounds and a real woman scientist who all share the screen as a matter of course. Within the group, the children take turns leading, questioning and building, and feelings like curiosity, frustration and excitement appear across boys and girls without being pinned to one type. The clearest limits are a fairly narrow mix of Black and fair-skinned characters and a conventional two-parent household, with adults kept to supportive parts. Overall it gives children a varied, balanced cast where difference is treated as ordinary.

Ada Twist and her friends investigate a mysterious bad smell using real curiosity and simple experiments, all set in recognisable homes and a science corner. There is no villain anywhere; the only tension is the puzzle itself, worked out through questions and teamwork. Brief imagined sequences picture science ideas like how a smell travels, and they stay consistent and clearly tied to the real world, ending with a real scientist in a live-action segment. For this age the mostly realistic world with light, grounded imagination is a comfortable fit.

This is a polished, well-made series that holds up as company in the room for a parent. The investigation format gives the story a real shape, the production craft is clean, and the colors and voices stay easy on adult ears. The main caveat is that the jokes and dialogue rarely reach beyond the youngest children, and the song refrains can wear thin on repeat. Overall it sits comfortably as pleasant viewing for a co-watching adult.

Themes

Science

Central

The friends investigate why something smells, with a whiteboard linking steam, heat and smell.

Curiosity

Ada and her friends keep asking where the smell comes from and refuse to drop the question.

Problem solving

The whole episode is built around tracking down the source of the great stink step by step.

Senses

Central

A strong smell, shown as green wavy lines rising from a sock, is the puzzle at the heart of the story.

Friendship

Ada, Rosie and Iggy investigate side by side throughout the episode.

Activities

Science

The friends gather clues and test ideas to solve the mystery smell.

Experimenting

The children try out their ideas about what causes the smell.

Emotions

Curiosity

The friends lean in and study the source of the smell with bright interest.

Disgust

The children wrinkle their faces and recoil from a stinky green sock on the rug.

Surprise

The boy in the grey shirt gasps with a wide-open mouth when the smell is found.

Excitement

The friends grow animated as their investigation closes in on the answer.

Behaviour

Investigating

The children search the house and examine clues to find where the smell is coming from.

Asking questions

The friends repeatedly ask what is causing the smell and why.

Trial and error

They test their ideas about the smell and watch what happens.

Teamwork

Ada, Rosie and Iggy share ideas and work the problem as a group.

Writing

A whiteboard shows the friends' notes and sketches about heat and smell.

Social lessons

Teamwork

Ada, Rosie and Iggy combine their guesses to crack the mystery together.

Friendship

The three friends investigate and react to the smell side by side.

Helping others

The friends work together to rid the home of the unpleasant smell.

Ada Twist and her friends Rosie and Iggy track down the source of a powerful smell drifting through the house, which they call the great stink. They observe clues, suggest where it might come from and test their ideas until they find the culprit. The final minutes leave the animation behind for a real scientist who studies cheese in a laboratory, linking the story to how smells work in real life. The mystery is solved through teamwork and careful thinking.

Ada Twist Scientist

Ada Twist Scientist

Cake Twist

recommended age co-watching from 3

Ada Twist realises her mom forgot her parents' anniversary, so she and her friends Rosie and Iggy set out to recreate her dad's secret chocolate surprise cake. Treating baking as science, they test ingredients and fail twice before the right amounts produce a cake with an accidental twist of sprinkles inside. Her dad loves it at the anniversary dinner, calling the happy accident better than the original. The episode closes with a real pastry chef in her kitchen explaining how baking soda makes cookies rise.

Ada Twist Scientist

Ada Twist Scientist

Garden Party

recommended age co-watching from 3

Ada, Rosie and Iggy discover that Iggy's mom's garden has wilted, so they set out to bring it back to life. They observe the plants, form a hypothesis, test sun and water in a lab, ask Iggy's dad for expert advice about fertilizer, and finally build a machine that waters and feeds the plants automatically. The garden thrives and the friends hold their garden party. The episode closes with a real robotics engineer showing his garden robot and a fun fact about seeds.

Ada Twist Scientist

Ada Twist Scientist

The Great Stink

recommended age co-watching from 3

Ada Twist and her friends Rosie and Iggy track down the source of a powerful smell drifting through the house, which they call the great stink. They observe clues, suggest where it might come from and test their ideas until they find the culprit. The final minutes leave the animation behind for a real scientist who studies cheese in a laboratory, linking the story to how smells work in real life. The mystery is solved through teamwork and careful thinking.

Ada Twist Scientist

Ada Twist Scientist

Rosie's Rockin' Pet

recommended age co-watching from 3

Ada, Rosie and Iggy try to figure out the mystery of Rosie's pet rock, treating it as a science question to investigate together. They form guesses, test ideas and sing their way through the steps until they reach an answer. The animated story is followed by a short live-action segment in which a presenter shows real rocks and a meteorite found in Kansas. The friends end on a shared discovery before the closing credits and songs.

Ada Twist Scientist

Ada Twist Scientist

The Curious Case of Lil' Liz

recommended age co-watching from 3

Ada agrees to babysit her brother Arthur's pet lizard, Lil' Liz, even though lizards give her the heebie-jeebies. When the lizard escapes from an unlocked cage, Ada and her friends Rosie and Iggy use the scientific method to track her down, researching the lizard's habits and building a cosy 'lizard lounge' stocked with her favourite things. Lil' Liz returns to the lounge and Arthur forgives Ada, who has lost her fear along the way. The episode ends with Ada bubbling over with new questions about the lizard.

Ada Twist Scientist

Ada Twist Scientist

Cat on a Hot Twist Roof

recommended age co-watching from 3

When the family cat Mushu carries Arthur's prized toy helicopter onto the roof, Ada, Rosie and Iggy set out to rescue them both without using the forbidden ladder. Each friend tries a different idea, from balloons to a kitty bed to a tuna fishing rod, and every attempt fails. They finally stop competing, combine their ideas and use helium balloons to float a basket up and bring Mushu down. Arthur thanks them and lets everyone take a turn flying the helicopter.

Ada Twist Scientist

Ada Twist Scientist

Ada's Plan to Save the Planet

recommended age co-watching from 3

Ada Twist, a young scientist, sets out with her friends to figure out how to take care of the planet. A glowing portal carries the group to an imagined future city, and along the way they explore green meadows, look closely at wildlife such as a small frog, and consider cleaner energy like wind power. Working together, they turn their questions into a plan to help the environment. The episode ends with a song-style sequence and full closing credits.

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From this series Ada Twist Scientist

By age 3 years

By platform Netflix

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