This week in App Smart, I wrote about the many apps that can teach your children to count beyond the basic “one, two, many, lots!†and that may even help them, and you, brush up on basic arithmetic.
Mathmateer is one of the more entertaining entries. It is aimed at children who already have a basic grasp of numbers, simple math, telling the time and knowing the difference between odd and even numbers. It’s 99 cents for iOS devices.
The game begins with the player building a rocket out of parts paid for from a limited pile of cash. It’s a visual drag-and-drop affair that’s easy to do, but children will probably benefit from having an adult talk them through the process. This part of the app teaches basic monetary awareness.
When the rocket is complete, you launch it on a mission. When it reaches space, the game begins. Players have to click on answers matching the specific topic of each mission, against the clock. For example, as time ticks down your child will have to click on numbers less than a hundred, or count numbers in order, or find analog clock faces showing a time that’s half past the hour.
It’s fun, if a little frenetic, and you’ll probably find that yourself exercising your own mental muscles as you supervise a youngster playing it. For that reason, the game is also fairly useful for beefing up numeracy skills even if you’re an adult.
In places, the menus aren’t particularly logical â€" for example, the app requires you to click on an “X†to progress to the next menu when an arrow would be more obvious. Sometimes the font used for text is tricky to read â€" which is also why it’s an app that probably works best under supervised use.
Baby Count 123, free on Android, is a much simpler app aimed at children just learning to count objects and identify written numbers. It has cute graphics and music that should amuse youngsters. The tasks are simple, like learning to tap and drag numbers into ascending order or count banjos or deer. The app’s menus are just complicated enough, however, that you’ll have to supervise youngsters while they use it, especially when pop-up ads appear. Sharing the app like this will definitely help with their learning experience, though the cheery sound effects may eventually grate on your nerves (you can turn them off).
For adults interested in brushing up on mental arithmetic, or to give older children some really tricky math challenges, the Math Workout app could be fun. The app has a straightforward design, with simple graphics and clear large text. It contains several types of puzzles, all against the clock. For example, the Brain Cruncher puzzle asks you to compute a sequence of instructions like “Start with 5. Add 10. Divide by 2. Add 29….†until you finally get to type in the answer.
Keeping track of which player gets the most answers right in the shortest time might help keep your children interested in learning. And you may, as I did, find it helps you improve your own mental math abilities. It’s free on Android, and there’s a $1.99 “Pro†version with more puzzles and no in-app advertisements.
These apps, with gamelike challenges, moving graphics and sound effects, bring so much to the educational experience that you may even have fun helping your child learn to count and add.
Quick call: The classic action game Duke Nukem 2 has just been released as an iOS version for $1.99 in honor of the game’s 20th anniversary. The pixelated graphics will remind you how far computer games have come since 1993.
