Just launched: free lifetime premium for the first 1,000 members to activate their account.

Log in Start free

How Does Taste Work?

Mediocre

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 4

Overstimulating

Exact score locked

Watch on

Netflix

Save

How Does Taste Work?

See the exact scores

The review is yours to read. Create a free account to reveal the exact SlowScreen score and every pillar score.

Create free account

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 clearly present and regularly draws attention. The visuals are calm and well-organized.

The overarching question, 'How does taste work?', does give the episode a spine, but the structure is held back by jumping between many different segments: StoryBot adventures, live-action child interviews, a costumed Miss Mushroom, a jungle scene with a snake, and a big concert finale. Information about taste buds, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami arrives in dense bursts that exceed what a three-year-old can comfortably absorb in one viewing. The basic question-investigation-answer arc is recognizable, with each idea broadly building on the previous one.

The episode opens with Miss Mushroom in distress because children reject vegetables, and her tearful close-ups arrive before any reassurance lands. Bo and the StoryBots respond with a warm, supportive tone and characters treat each other with respect throughout. Recovery from the upset is handled but not always in the very next scene, and the abrupt swings between a quiet kitchen, a dark jungle, and a roaring arena ask more of a young preschooler than the age band ideally tolerates.

Bo takes clear initiative once Miss Mushroom's problem is named, setting off to investigate how taste actually works and reporting back with what he learns. The episode walks through cause and effect, food touches the tongue, receptors send signals, the brain identifies a flavor, and uses a multi-step structure rather than a one-line answer. The small caveat is that the initial problem is handed to Bo by an upset adult character rather than emerging from his own curiosity.

Word use is consistent and the speech is clearly mixed, so terms like 'taste buds', 'sweet', 'sour', 'bitter', 'salty', and 'umami' are introduced with definitions and examples. Sentences are mostly complete and function as explanation, instruction, or description rather than empty exclamations. The score is held down by vocabulary and sentence length that sit above the comfortable level for a three-year-old; concepts like receptors and signals to the brain will mostly wash past this age, even when the delivery is friendly.

There is real practical value: food is named, kids on screen describe what they taste, and the episode encourages trying new flavors, which transfers directly to a meal at home. The score is held back by how much of the runtime sits in pure fantasy, an animated jungle with a talking snake, a stadium concert with anthropomorphic tongue and food characters, and StoryBot robots that travel through imaginary worlds. For the two-to-four age band, where mostly realistic content is preferred, that fantasy share weakens the everyday-life connection.

More information

The cast is built almost entirely from anthropomorphic figures: small multi-coloured robot characters known as StoryBots, a mushroom character voiced by an adult guest, and a parade of singing foods, plants and creatures. Live-action humans appear only in short framed inserts (one or two adult women on screens), so traditional markers of human diversity (ethnicity, family form, age, body) are barely visible. Within that abstract cast, screen time and active roles are shared across several differently coloured bots and guest characters, with no obvious gendered division of tasks. The picture is varied in character design and voice casting, but narrow in showing recognisable human life-worlds.

This show pairs a real child asking a real question about taste with a heavily stylised animated universe of colourful creatures, singing tongues and musical journeys inside the body. There is no villain and no hero-versus-villain framing, which keeps the emotional world calm. The animated rules stay internally consistent, but for a three-year-old the balance leans noticeably further toward fantasy than the age band typically calls for.

StoryBots Answer Time delivers polished craft and clever writing that genuinely works for an adult in the room. The episode follows a child's question about taste through skits, songs, and a tour of the tongue, with enough wit and pop-culture flair to keep parents engaged. The main drawback is the high-energy musical sequences with saturated magenta lighting and rapid cuts, which lift the stimulation load. Production quality is consistently strong across animation, voice work, and music.

Themes

Senses

Central

The whole episode unpacks how taste works, naming sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami with food examples.

Science

Central

Bo investigates taste buds, receptors, and signals to the brain in an animated explainer style.

Trying new foods

Framed by Miss Mushroom's upset that kids dislike vegetables, real children sample sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami foods, and the finale celebrates enjoying a wider range of foods.

Vegetables

Recurring

Miss Mushroom is upset that children reject vegetables and fungi, and food appears throughout cooking and tasting scenes.

Curiosity

Bo sets off on a journey specifically to find an answer to the taste question.

Music

A full arena-style song number performs the taste lesson with dancing characters and stage lighting.

Activities

Tasting food

Children on screen taste samples and talk about whether each is sweet, sour, or salty.

Singing

A staged musical number with stage lights and microphones performs the taste lesson.

Investigating

Bo travels through different settings, including a jungle with a snake, to gather information.

Cooking

Kitchen scenes with a chef-StoryBot show food being prepared and plated.

Emotions

Sadness

Miss Mushroom is shown teary and frustrated about children disliking vegetables and fungi.

Curiosity

Bo's wide eyes and questioning posture launch the search for an answer.

Joy

The concert finale shows characters cheering, dancing, and celebrating what they have learned about taste.

Surprise

Child interviewees react with raised eyebrows and open mouths when tasting strong flavors.

Behaviour

Asking questions

The framing of the episode is a question, 'How does taste work?', that Bo and child interviewees explore.

Explaining

StoryBots break down taste science step by step using diagrams of the tongue and food examples.

Eating

Children on screen sample different foods and describe what each flavor is like.

Helping

Bo investigates the taste question to help Miss Mushroom feel better about kids not liking vegetables.

Social lessons

Learning together

StoryBots, Miss Mushroom, and real children all participate in answering the taste question.

Supporting a friend

Bo responds to Miss Mushroom's upset by going out to find an answer that will help her.

Accepting differences

The episode acknowledges that some kids dislike certain flavors while encouraging them to try again.

Flashing lights

The arena-concert segment uses spotlights, strobing stage lights, and several moderate flash moments.

Loud sounds

The extended concert block layers crowd cheers, music, and effects with almost no quiet beats.

Scary scenes

Miss Mushroom cries and complains in close-up about children rejecting vegetables before any reassurance arrives.

In this StoryBots: Answer Time episode, Miss Mushroom, played in live action by Chrissy Teigen in a giant mushroom costume, is upset because children dislike vegetables and fungi. The StoryBot Bo sets off on a journey through animated kitchens, a jungle, and a concert arena to answer the question of how taste works. Along the way, real children on screen sample foods and describe sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami, while StoryBot explainers show how taste buds send signals to the brain. The episode ends with a celebratory musical number that ties the science back to enjoying a wider range of foods.

Ask the StoryBots

Ask the StoryBots

Where Does Sand Come From?

recommended age co-watching from 4

A child sends in the question 'where does sand come from?' and the StoryBots set out to answer it. The episode mixes a main adventure following animated rock characters across mountains, rivers and oceans with short sketches, a painting bit and a rainbow song. Along the way the StoryBots show how rocks crack, tumble and grind down into tiny grains. At the end they bring the answer back, framing sand as the result of nature wearing rocks down over a very long time.

Ask the StoryBots

Ask the StoryBots

How Does Taste Work?

Overstimulating

recommended age co-watching from 4

In this StoryBots: Answer Time episode, Miss Mushroom, played in live action by Chrissy Teigen in a giant mushroom costume, is upset because children dislike vegetables and fungi. The StoryBot Bo sets off on a journey through animated kitchens, a jungle, and a concert arena to answer the question of how taste works. Along the way, real children on screen sample foods and describe sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami, while StoryBot explainers show how taste buds send signals to the brain. The episode ends with a celebratory musical number that ties the science back to enjoying a wider range of foods.

Ask the StoryBots

Ask the StoryBots

How Do Tornadoes Form?

recommended age co-watching from 4

Mr. Cow asks the StoryBots how tornadoes form, and Beep heads out with documentarian Chase Weathers to investigate. Along the way, real children answer the same question on video screens, and animated weather characters act out how warm and cold air meet to create a tornado. A musical segment and a short forest bear bit interrupt the main thread before the team returns home. Beep delivers the answer to Mr. Cow at the end.

Ask the StoryBots

Ask the StoryBots

How Do People Catch a Cold?

Overstimulating

recommended age co-watching from 4

A young boy named Malachi asks the StoryBots how people catch a cold, and team 341B is dispatched to find the answer. The bots board a tiny vessel and travel into the body to tour the immune system, meeting helper T-cells, B-cells and a macrophage while a Virus King tries to take over. Through songs, gags and a 'Fun Fact Machine', the team explains how viruses spread and how the body fights back. The episode closes with the takeaway that washing your hands helps you stay healthier.

Ask the StoryBots

Ask the StoryBots

Internet

recommended age co-watching from 4

In this StoryBots: Answer Time episode, Bo investigates how the internet works after office worker Stacy accidentally sends a silly video to her boss. The answer is built up through library research, a journey through a stylised network, a film-noir parody about a 'sneeze case', and several music numbers. Live-action children pose the original question and Trevor Noah appears in office scenes as part of the framing story. By the end, Bo has traced the path from one computer through routers and servers back to Stacy's situation.

Related media

Other series that fit this age group

Jessica's Big Little World

Jessica's Big Little World

recommended age co-watching from 2

Jessica's Big Little World follows a young girl eager to do things herself, with her family and toys at home and around town. Warm and playful for preschoolers, with gentle lessons in independence and perseverance.

Sago Mini Friends

Sago Mini Friends

recommended age co-watching from 2

Sago Mini Friends follows Harvey the dog and his animal friends through everyday adventures in a bright cartoon town. The tone is calm and warm, made for toddlers, with gentle lessons in kindness.

Curious George

Curious George

recommended age co-watching from 3

Curious George follows a playful monkey and the Man with the Yellow Hat through everyday city and country adventures. The tone is gentle, aimed at young preschoolers, teaching curiosity and everyday problem-solving.

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood

recommended age co-watching from 2

Daniel Tiger and his family live in a friendly animated neighborhood, sharing everyday moments like birthdays, school visits and checkups. The tone is calm and reassuring, aimed at preschoolers, supporting social and emotional learning.

Explore more

From this series Ask the StoryBots

By age 3 years

By platform Netflix

Just launched: free lifetime premium for the first 1,000 members to activate their account.

Create your account

We use functional cookies and Google Analytics to improve our site. Learn more