GO Math! GO – Fun learning for grades K, 1st & 2nd

Go Math! Go – Fun learning for grades K, 1st, & 2ndQualityEducationEntertainmentValueChild FriendlySummaryGo Math! Go offers high-quality, engaging skills-based math practice opportunities for kids in grades K-2.4.4 App Info Price: Overview Go Math! Go makes a high-quality math curriculum accessible to parents and teachers. This interactive math app covers a range of skills for grades […]

Go Math! Go - Fun learning for grades K, 1st, & 2nd

Summary

Go Math! Go offers high-quality, engaging skills-based math practice opportunities for kids in grades K-2.

4.4

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App Info

Price: Free
AppStore User Rating:

Overview

Go Math! Go makes a high-quality math curriculum accessible to parents and teachers. This interactive math app covers a range of skills for grades K-2. Skills are organized by grade-level and allow parents and teachers to track a child’s progress and he or she works through the app. While most of the questions are multiple-choice or drag and drop, the app offers relevant, quality math content to help children improve their math skills.

Features include:

• Skills-based math practice
• Multiple problem types
• Positive reinforcement and rewards
• Parent and Teacher portal

Quality

Before using the app, parents or teachers must set up an account. The process is relatively simple, but parents and teachers should be prepared to complete this step before handing the app to children. From there, they can choose which sections of the app to unlock. Each of the three grade-levels must be assigned a child’s name and the same name can not be used for multiple grade-levels, which may be annoying for parents who want children to work on content at multiple levels. Once an account is created and the content is set up, the app is easy to navigate. The main screen displays a button for Grade K, Grade 1, and Grade 2, each labeled with a different cartoonish character. Once children tap on their grade-level, they’re shown a list of skills and can tap on the skill they want to work on. Each skill is labeled with stars that are filled in to show a child’s progress. Every time a child completes a subsection, a star is filled in.

The questions in the app are well-written and function well. Kids will find plenty of opportunity to interact with the questions and will also enjoy the bright colors and animated elements.

Education

Questions in the app are organized by grade-level and skill. For example, kindergarten is broken down into skills such as Count 0 to 5, Compare 0 to 5, Count 20 and Beyond, 3-D Shapes, Measurement, and Sort and Group. Each individual section is also broken down into subsections. For example, Count 0 to 5 is broken down into Model 1 and 2, Read 1 and 2, Ways to Make 5, Order to 5, and so on. To complete a subsection, kids must answer a set of questions in the practice round and then answer a set of questions in the challenge round. Most questions are multiple choice or drag and drop. In kindergarten and first grade, questions are read aloud to help students. All questions also contain visual images, such as counting cubes and number lines.

Entertainment

The main focus of the app is to help children build their math skills. As a result, there are not a lot of fun elements. However, the content is presented in a way that is engaging to kids. Each set of problems is accompanied by a tracker at the top of the screen, so children know how many problems they must complete to get to the end of the set. After completing a set, children are also given the chance to participate in a challenge round, which encourages them to continue answering questions. Throughout the app, children will also get to interact with animated characters and will receive positive phrase and small rewards, such as watching an animated character __play an instrument, for answering questions correctly. The questions themselves are also highly visual, making it easier for children to stay engaged with the content.

Value

Parents and teachers can create an account and download a sample set of problems for each grade. The sample set contains a full set of problems in one skill area. Access to the full set of problems can be obtained through an in-app purchase. Each grade must be purchased separately and the price is fairly high compared to similar apps. If parents or teachers opt to purchase all three grades, the price can add up. However, parents and teachers should consider that they are gaining access to high-quality content produced by one of the leading educational companies and also note that the content is full of visuals and other features designed to help students improve their skills.

Child Friendliness

Parents or teachers must create an account to access the content. Creating an account requires an e-mail address and other personal information. Birth date verification prevents children from creating an account on their own. However, children may find a way to purchase full access to the problems if parents/teachers don’t have their device set up to require a password when attempting to download items from the App Store.

• NO social media
• NO 3rd party ads
• NO more apps
• YES in-app purchases
• YES account required

Crazy Maths Adventure

Crazy Math Adventure is an engaging, educational app that allows children to practice their year 1 and year 2 math skills with an exciting game like platform. Full of adventure and tons of fun this app is great for children of all ages.

Summary

Crazy Math Adventure is an engaging, educational app that allows children to practice their year 1 and year 2 math skills with an exciting game like platform. Full of adventure and tons of fun this app is great for children of all ages.

4.6

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App Info

Price: $2.99
AppStore User Rating:

Overview

Crazy Math Adventure offers children an exciting video game like theme to practice their math skills. With increasing difficulty as children play, this app offers a progressive practice that parents can track in the settings. This app takes math practice to a new and exciting level that kids will love.

Features include:

• 41 Levels
• Increasing difficulty
• Addition/Subtraction
• Multiplication/Division

Quality

The developers have done an excellent job making this app visually appealing and engaging for little ones. While math concepts can be a bit boring for some, this app creates a sense of adventure and fun for kids as they move through the levels. With illustrations and background music that create a video game like feel, children are going to stay engaged as they help to clear Maths Land of all the wicked spells that have been set. Well done and easy to use for children of all ages.

Education

Crazy Math Adventure is an awesome app for kids who want an engaging and exciting platform to test their math skills. With a fun and adventurous backdrop, children become the hero by using their addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and other year 1 and 2 math skills to defeat the bad guys who are taking over Maths Land. This game is full of magic, wonder, spells, and of course awesome math problems for children to complete.

Parents will also be happy to know there is an option to check each player’s progress to see where they may need extra support. With each lesson and level clearly outlined (for example sequencing 2s etc.) parents and teachers can go back and review the material if needed. Overall this app is creative, educational, and fun for kids to use.

Entertainment

It’s always wonderful to find an app that offers a nice balance between education and entertainment and Crazy Math Adventure offers exactly that. With a game like concept that encourages children to keep moving forward in order to save Maths Land, players are going to be eager to complete the necessary problems and incidentally they will get lots of practice with their math skills. With each level increasing in difficulty and timed lessons scattered throughout, this app offers lots of challenges and fun for young children.

Value

Priced at just under four dollars this app may be a bit more than parents are used to spending for similar apps, however when you consider the multiple levels, progress options, multiple math functions, and the overall game-like feel, it really is worth the price. This is one app that will get a lot of playing (and learning) time from little ones and parents are sure to appreciate that.

Child Friendliness

Parents will be happy to know that this app is not only easy to use, but it’s safe too. The developers have done an excellent job creating an app that offers visual prompts and support throughout the problems with a very intuitive interface. This app is also free from social media links and external links, however there is the occasional ‘more apps’ button that appears, but it is protected. Overall, the developers have done a nice job keeping this app easy to use for young children.

• NO social media
• NO external links
• NO in-app purchase
• NO 3rd party ads
• YES “more apps” (protected, but visible)

World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes, and Pioneers

World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes, and Pioneers is a great app to encourage young elementary children to learn more about specific aspects of our country’s history and geography while encouraging the overall values of love of learning, research, and finding connections with other times, places and peoples.

Summary

World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes, and Pioneers is a great app to encourage young elementary children to learn more about specific aspects of our country’s history and geography while encouraging the overall values of love of learning, research, and finding connections with other times, places and peoples.

4.8

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App Info

Price: $0.99
AppStore User Rating:

Overview

World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes and Pioneers is the third in a series of ebooks designed to ignite interest in learning about history, geography and connections between peoples. The main characters, eleven-year-old Liberty and her imaginary friends Truman the magical airplane, Ellie the sheepdog, and Georgie the toy eagle, use a computer to access a world where they can go anywhere and do nearly anything and research ideas, events and people that interest them.

Features include:

• Includes read to me, read to myself, and autoplay modes
• Includes four jigsaw puzzles
• Includes reading comprehension questions and activities
• Highlights words as they are read
• Uses professional narration and sound effects

Quality

World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes, and Pioneers is an outstanding app that is well-designed for the target age group of early elementary students. The developers included an intuitive set of controls, the ability to choose pages, several modes of play, and many other features that make the app easy to use. The narration is high-quality, and the sound effects are well-conceived, complementing the story rather than overpowering it. Most pages include appropriate animations that are connected to the story.

Education

This app is very educational. It is part of a larger series focused on various social sciences/social studies skills, including geography, history, inclusiveness, and more. The main character, Liberty Lane, has adventures in the real-life world as well as in her imaginary world inside of her computer. In this episode, her school class visits the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, prompting a closer look at Amelia Earhart. Connections are made in the story between Earhart, pioneers, Kansas, Mexico, a Mexican artist named Frida Kahlo, and more. Throughout the story, the interconnectedness of our shared history and society are emphasized. Other values stressed include the value of visiting museums, the fun of imagination, and the sheer joy of learning.

The story ends by including a number of comprehension questions for children to consider verbally or mentally, but has the option of checking the answers as needed. Developers also encourage readers to find locations from the story on maps at home, and provide four different jigsaw puzzles showing scenes from the story. All activities are well-designed and fun to use.

Entertainment

World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes, and Pioneers is quite entertaining. Each page of the rather lengthy ebook includes appropriate sound effects and animations that will keep children’s attention much more completely than simply reading the text would. The questions at the end of the book are very non-threatening in nature, simply encouraging users to access the information again mentally.

My one concern is that the opening sequence (which can be skipped if adults feel it would be better) tells the story of how Liberty’s toys Truman the airplane and Georgie the toy eagle, came to be inside the computer. It involves a lightning strike into Liberty’s bedroom, and while most children will realize the fanciful nature of the events described, some more sensitive kids or those who have not yet fully separated fantasy from reality may become unduly upset by the thought that such things might really happen. It would be important for parents or teachers to be aware of children who may have uncomfortable feelings about things like this, and who may need to be sheltered from or guided through this part of the book.

Value

This app is an excellent value at $0.99 in the App Store. There are 125 pages in the ebook, and to go through it in the “Read to Me” mode takes approximately thirty minutes. In addition, there are puzzles and questions about the story. The app is also included in a three-app bundle of other stories about Liberty that is available for $1.99 in the App Store.

Child Friendliness

This app is very child-friendly.

• Parent area (contains protected external links & social media)
• NO 3rd party ads
• NO in-app purchase
• YES “more apps” (protected, but visible)

TwinGo London

Learn all about London when you travel there with Alicia and Theo in TwinGo London.

TwinGo London

Summary

Learn all about London when you travel there with Alicia and Theo in TwinGo London.

4.7

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App Info

Price: $2.99
AppStore User Rating:

Overview

Alicia and Theo are headed to London and they’re inviting kids to come along with them. TwinGo London helps kids learn all about the sites and sounds of the capital of England. They gain information as they read through the interactive story and put what they’ve learned to the test through a series of fun activities.

Features include:

• Animated characters
• Fun activities
• Facts about London
• Beautiful artwork

Quality

The app opens with an animated introduction that introduces kids to the characters in the app and the trip they are planning to take. From there, kids are flown to London and begin their journey. As they go through the story, kids are given opportunities to interact with the app and find clues to solve the mystery. The app moves smoothly, but the characters are a bit stiff, which may turn kids off a bit.

Education

Kids will learn a ton of information about London. They’ll also get to put on their detective caps and find clues to solve mysteries within the app. As kids go through the app, they’ll have to pay close attention to the scenery and to everything the owl says. At times he can be a bit wordy, which means kids have a lot to remember. However, they’re tasked with using the information throughout the app, so it’s not too overwhelming.

Entertainment

Kids will enjoy the games found throughout the app. By playing games, they earn coins which allow them to gather more clues and get to different places. While the games are fun and involve activities such as flying a plane and popping balloons, they tie into the game so they’re educational at the same time.

Value

The app is priced comparably to other interactive ebooks. It also comes with lots of activities for kids, helping to increase the value. This app is particularly ideal for kids looking to learn more about England, particularly London.

Child Friendliness

The app does not contain any in-app purchases or other content designed to take kids out of the app. In the free version, kids are encouraged to download the full version of the app to continue on their adventure.

• NO external links
• NO social media
• NO 3rd party ads
• NO in-app purchase (protected)

Sound Salad-Help Mr. Ear By Sorting Sounds

Sound Salad-Help Mr. Ear by Sorting Sounds is an enjoyable app that will help children between ages of three and seven to build auditory processing, memory and attention skills, which form the foundation for later academic learning including phonics knowledge.

Summary

Sound Salad-Help Mr. Ear by Sorting Sounds is an enjoyable app that will help children between ages of three and seven to build auditory processing, memory and attention skills, which form the foundation for later academic learning including phonics knowledge.

4.7

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App Info

Price: $2.99
AppStore User Rating:

Overview

Sound Salad-Help Mr. Ear by Sorting Sounds is a sound sorting and memory game for young children. Players are challenged to match short sound effects to pictures, using discrimination, memory, and attention skills.

Features include:

• 8 Levels, including timed
• 96 sounds and objects
• Funny reward animations at the end of each section
• Correct matching rewarded with animations
• Set for choice of 11 languages/accents (applicable to intro and level control labels)

Quality

Sound Salad is a high quality app that is designed to be easily used by young players. There is no reading involved, and the controls for the levels of difficulty are accessible and intuitive. Developers did a fine job of creating a range of difficulty, so children from ages three through about seven will enjoy the app, and the __play can grow with them. The app did close unexpectedly twice during my review (though I could not figure out what caused the glitch and I couldn’t replicate it). Developers may want to consider an explanatory parents’ area, as well. As an educator, I’m well aware of the importance of the skills nurtured by this app, but many parents may overlook their importance in the development of auditory processing and memory.

Education

This app provides an entertaining way to develop an often-overlooked set of readiness skills: auditory skills. Most people don’t think about it, but auditory skills such as those nurtured by this app form the foundation for later learning about phonics, reading and spelling, and they also are crucial for school success in general, since so much of classroom time is spent listening.

Sound Salad presents from two to four pictures and players must match the correct sound to each. The levels adjust from just two pictures and sounds to match up all the way to four pictures with sounds, and the upper levels provide a choice of two challenge levels: a simple matching game and a memory game. There is also an eighth level that introduces an element of speed by adding a timer for responses.

The app encourages children to pay close attention to the sounds they hear, to logically consider which pictures they match, and to do so by navigating increasing complexity at successive levels. Some sounds are obvious, such as a barking sound to match with a dog, while others are quite challenging, such as discriminating between the cawing sound of a crow or a parrot. Each picture erupts into a cute animation when a correct match is made, and after two or three correct matches, Mr. Ear makes an appearance as he climbs in various ways to reach his goal.

Entertainment

Sound Salad is entertaining for young children. With 96 different pictures and matching sounds, there is a lot of material to cover, and each has its own animation to enjoy when the correct matches are made. Solve several puzzles (the number varies by level), and be rewarded with a short animation featuring Mr. Ear. Everything is positive and upbeat, and even if a player makes an incorrect match, the app simply rearranges the pictures and offers another chance.

Value

This app costs $2.99 in the App Store, which is a good value. Kids will be able to __play it for a while, since it can “grow” as their skills grow. I do wish that the levels were more randomized, so that the challenges would seem fresher when children repeat levels.

Child Friendliness

This app is very child-friendly.

• NO external links
• NO social media
• NO 3rd party ads
• NO in-app purchase
• YES “more apps” (hidden and protected)