There are a number of excellent educational apps available for the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad. I am going to try to share some of my favorites with you on a regular basis. Today, I will start with math fact applications. Learning math facts can be tedious and particularly frustrating for some children. Practicing 10 minutes per day can really improve math fact fluency and there are some fun ways to do this using technology. Some of the apps I have listed are free, some have free versions with fewer features, while others are paid. Here are my favorites:
1. Math Bingo (currently 99 cents): My kids love this game. It allows for up to 5 players and a guest to separately keep score and practice math facts (with a game and three difficulty levels for each operation). The game flashes a math fact and the player must choose the correct answer on the Bingo board. Once a Bingo is obtained, the player wins a bingo bug, which can be used to play a fun game (slingshot the earned bugs to collect coins). Players are motivated to play more Bingo (and practice their math facts) because it earns them more bugs for the game.
2. PopMath Lite (free for the lite version, which only includes addition): This is a fun game in which problems and answers are in “bubbles” on the screen. The goal is to match the problem with the correct answer. Increasingly difficult levels are earned with the completion of each screen.
3. MathTables (free for addition version, $1.99 for full version): The full version of this app allows the user to set which operation(s) will be included, which numbers (-99 to 99), and whether any required numbers should be included (this is great for practicing a particular multiplication set). It includes advanced operations of squared numbers, cubed numbers, and square roots. For this game, the answer is provided and the player must choose the correct equation. This “twist” helps by making the player recognize that there are multiple equations for any one answer. The game is timed and errors are tabulated.
4. Math Drills (currently $1.99): This is a nice, straightforward, customizable math facts drill game. There are review, practice, and test conditions. In the review section, the use of a number line, blocks, hints, or facts table is provided to assist in learning new facts. For the test condition, the player can choose the number of problems in the test, which is timed. High scores (based on time and accuracy) are tracked for each player.
5. Flash to Pass Free Math Flash Cards (free version includes some ads, 99 cents will buy you the ad-free version): This game provides 50 card sets for each of the four operations at varying difficulty levels. The player can also choose to focus on a particular math fact set. There is a timer so the player can track how quickly they are completing the 50 card sets.
Having a variety of options available can help keep math fact practice more interesting. Try to group all the math fact apps together, so your child can choose from the options. There are undoubtedly many other math fact apps out there, let me know if you have a particular favorite that I have missed.
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