The estimated reading time for this post is 4 minutes
The best apps for kids are those that make learning fun. Most math apps for younger kids are flash card based and those apps are fantastic, helping kids to get their basic math skills mastered while enjoying the process.
Visual Math Level 1 is a different kind of math app for kids. This math app teaches a variety of skills in such a fun and innovative way that kids will not be able to guess this is an educational app!
The app is geared towards four to six year olds (though I found older kids benefited from this app as well) and features six different games for the child to play. After a child successfully completes a round of one game, a round of another game appears.
The game teaches shapes by asking the child to drag all of a certain type of shape into a box. The child needs to pay close attention because each time the game appears, he is asked to drag a different shape into the box. If the child tries to rush through the game, he will get tripped up trying to put circles in the box when the game is asking for squares.
Although words appear on the screen, a child does not have to read to play the game. If a word is in CAPITAL letters, the child can touch the word and the app will speak the word. So this app will help teach reading as well as math. Bonus!
Other exercises include comparisons of which objects are bigger, heavier, more, less, lighter, etc. The app also teaches a child to tell time on both a digital and analog clock. Other games include counting shapes and solving patterns. The variety of games is not only challenging but entertaining as well!
Further incentives for a child to love the app are plentiful. Each time a child answers correctly, the app gives both visual and sound cues rewarding the child for her achievement. If the child answers incorrectly, the message is gentle. If a child is stumped, there is a hint button that will help her solve the problem.
Longer term incentives have been cleverly added to the game as well. Your child earns badges for each round of a game he successfully completes. He can choose the images for the badges and make them into collages. Wait a minute, it this an art app too?
Another key feature of the app is your ability to monitor your child’s achievements with each game. The app includes a progress page which shows you the percentage of questions the child has answered correctly.
The app also adapts to a child’s progress in each category so the questions are appropriately challenging for the child.
If you’re feeling especially proud of your child, you can share her achievements with the world via Twitter and Facebook (no Google+ link yet).
As impressed as I was with Visual Math Level 1, I decided to enlist a panel of testers to try this app and see whether my impressions were correct. I asked six children to try the app, the youngest of whom was eight. The app allows each child to enter his name and keeps track of the progress for each child.
All the kids really enjoyed the app, but the eight year old was completely engaged by the app. The app was challenging for him at first because he tried to rush through the app, not reading the questions completely (he is a good reader so doesn’t need the voice cues). Answering the questions correctly was important to him, so he slowed down and focused on reading the questions.
Teaching a child to read questions carefully may very well be the most important lesson this app teaches.
The app is very intuitive. I didn’t give any instructions to the children and they immediately were able to play the app, easily figuring out how to get started.
All of the testers gave the app a big thumbs up!
The app has many other amazing and innovative features, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you. Let’s just say you will be delighted as you discover the many features this app has to offer for both parents and children.
This app was released last month and the app developer, Weil Apps, kindly provided me with a promo code to test the app for review. The app is iPad only and is $3.99 in the iTunes App Store.
Bottom Line
The app developers are educators and it shows in the quality of the app. The app is educational, entertaining, creative and engaging. If you have an iPad and a child in the four to six year old (or older) age range, grab this app today!
************************************************
Do your children play with educational apps? Do you find them to be effective in teaching your children? Let us know in the Comments section below!
I think this kind of app for kids has more of a future than those for smart phones. We still need these touch screen computers to come down in price though.
I had a very good day for Page views on my blog yesterday! I’m back to normal today! 🙂 Neodigital Art tomorrow! 🙂
I agree, Mike, this high quality app is sure to be a success, hopefully spurring others like it to be successful as well.
I imagine the price of tablets and other touch screen devices such as computer monitors will come down in price, as tech tends to do!
I’m so glad you’re feeling better. I look forward to your next Neodigital post tomorrow and I will be sure to visit your Rambling blog post today! 🙂
Thanks so much for your visit and wonderful comment!
Carolyn, I can’t find this one on the iPad. Am I missing something?
Thanks.
Hi – Here is the link to the app. Hope you like it.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/visual-math-level-1/id435836850?mt=8
Thanks, Anita, for providing the link to Lee. Anita is one of the developers of the app and I greatly appreciate her helping out a Wonder of Tech reader!
Lee, please let us know if you have any further difficulties in finding this wonderful app.
Don’t know about kids, but i’m definitely buying the game for myself :))
Ok, well, maybe i’ll also let my nephew borrow it…
Hi Martin, You are very generous to let your nephew borrow the app. But don’t make promises like that until you try the app. You just might find that you’re hooked! 🙂
Thanks so much, Martin, for your visit and your comment.
I love it ….
Incredible how developers are innovating education. I am not exactly sure the impact of iPad/iPhone on kids … ergonomics, vision, ay perspective. If there is any research done, would love to know. But so far I have seen good effect of these devices on kids learning activities. My daughter certainly had a good vocabulary for her age at 2yrs thanks to iPhone. I just downloaded bunch of pictures onto iPhoto, she enjoyed just swiping thru them and saying the words aloud.
Hi iRewardChart! I’m so glad you stopped by to read today’s blog post. I was thinking of you as I wrote this one, as I knew you would appreciate a quality app for kids such as Visual Math.
I am unaware of any studies yet, it’s probably too soon to tell the impact these apps will have on child development, But I predict that children will have a zest for learning based upon the excitement I have witnessed with kids testing educational apps.
What a creative way to use iPhoto on your phone. Perhaps that’s an idea for a new app?
Thanks so much for your visit and your wonderful comment! 🙂
This looks fun! Who ever thought math wasn’t fun was terribly wrong, I hope my four year old nephew will like this.
Thank you Carolyn!
Hi Jocuri Online, Yes, this will be a great app for your nephew. I like this app because it doesn’t seem like a math app to a child, it seems like a game, so the learning becomes fun instead of a chore. Please let us know what your nephew thinks of this game. I hope he really enjoys it!
Thanks so much, Jocuri, for your visit and your comment!
He loves it! Thank you!
So glad to hear your nephew enjoys the app. I’m delighted, though not surprised! 🙂
Thanks so much for letting us know.
Whew, I’m glad you didn’t ask me to test it; are you as smart as a 6 yr old? Yikes…………
I’m very involved w/ early childhood learning through some of my volunteer efforts. What a great resource. Educated and engaged kids have a huge economic impact on a community when they become adults. You definitely have to get them early.
Thanks for sharing; hopefully schools are stepping outside the box and using fun stuff like this.
Good to see you; hope your day went well.
Hi Bill, I have to confess, as I tested this app, I was forced to slow down too. I did read the instructions, but when I tried to put the shaped in the box, I missed sometimes because you have to put them in precisely. So I learned a lesson too!
I completely agree, these quality apps for kids are so exciting because they can open up a whole new world for kids who are less than motivated or who might have learning issues. I imagine even a kid who was bored in school would be captivated by this app.
Thanks so much, Bill, for your visit and brilliant comment! 🙂
I know someone who would love this one, Carolyn. It is my sister! she is a math expert and she has two beautiful daughters. She does want her daughters to love math :D. She’d love Visual Math. Thanks for sharing!
Mouh
🙂
Hi Mouh! I am so pleased your nieces will be able to enjoy this fun and educational app. My brother is a math wiz too but his daughters are a bit older. We’re looking forward to Visual Math Levels 2 and 3 which should be arriving soon!
Thanks so much for your visit and wonderful comment! 🙂 Always great to have you visit The Wonder of Tech.
Hmm…Interesting. Where were apps like this when I was trying to tell time? Just kidding 🙂 Very good post, Carolyn.
Children are so fascinated with visual games and movement. It’s a great way to teach them math and encourage reading. I like that you tested the app on children to see how they liked it.
Thanks for sharing! Have a good one.
Hi Alliyson, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech! I completely agree with you, I wish they had these apps and devices when I was a child. How much fun it must be to learn with entertaining and educational apps!
Testing apps on children is a very effective way of seeing whether an app is engaging. If a kid is bored, he won’t stick around long. But if he enjoys the app, you have to gently pry the device away from him.
Thanks so much, Allyson, for your visit and wonderful comment! 🙂
I always enjoy learning math since elementary. I really like numbers and how amazing their uses are. When I first saw this post, I actually jump into conclusion that this will be very great. Especially for children, this would be very helpful.
Hi Samantha, I’m a big fan of math too, but I know not everyone is. You’re right, this is a great app because it makes math so much fun for kids!
Thanks so much, Samantha, for your visit and comment.
To be honest, I’m happy seeing others who also enjoy math. Coz since I was a kid, I always hear those complains from my classmates and friends because they find all math problems hard for them! LOL I seldom find someone who truly loves math as a whole.
Hi Samantha, I’m a big math fan and my brother majored in math and got his master’s degree in math. So math was always big in our family growing up. But unfortunately not all kids love math, yet with fun apps like Visual Math, all kids can find math fun!
I had one mom comment about this app that she was scared to teach her kid to tell time because she is always running late, lol!
Thanks so much, Samantha, for your great enthusiasm for this wonderful app!
Educational apps for kids! With our technological advancements, it’s really great that parents have the option to provide their kids this kind of learning activities. I can’t imagine what more can our technology offer in the near future.
Hi Samantha, You’re right, it’s hard to imagine what the future holds for tech. I often wonder how my kids’ kids will learn. They will think that iPads are tech dinosaurs!
Thanks for your visit and comment!
Yeah! Once I’ve told my older brother that he needs to make sure that his kids must at least be exposed to different technologies that we have nowadays. Simply because, I believe that soon, everything will totally change.