“The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.”
Coming from Paul Richard Halmos, the renowned mathematician who is credited with significant advances in several fields of mathematics such as probability theory, statistics and mathematical logic, these words hold so much power. But then when it comes to kids, especially the kindergarten and the just-passed kindergarten ones, getting them to sit down and do mathematics is next to impossible. Hence, parents find themselves turning to other ‘more interesting’ means like online math games, story-telling (for instance, four frogs jumped into a pond, then one more, how many are there in all?), math story books (a popular one is Each Orange Had 8 Slices: A Counting Book by Paul Giganti, Jr. and Donald Crews), to name a few.
Along the same lines, here are three fun math apps for different age groups – from toddlers to middle schoolers – which are an exciting way to help your kids get rid of their math woes.
TallyTots (For 2-4 year olds)
The first thing that strikes you about the interface of this app is that it is extremely colorful – and hence, toddlers as well as preschoolers are going to love it. It is a complete package with twenty different mini-games within it, which begins as twenty cards with numbers spread across a cheerful blue sky background. Among the games is a mathematical puzzle which needs to be solved, a garden with flowers which need to be watered, and even chipmunks that need to be fed with a specific number of acorns. To top it all, the one reason which made me love this app most of all has to be the melodious and very simple to learn sing-along counting song, which kids will pick up in no time whatsoever.
The Counting Kingdom (For 6-10 year olds)
This one is all about magic, monsters and (of course!) math. You have a kingdom of your own and monsters are invading it. Even though the monsters are quite cute, you need to banish them from your kingdom, otherwise there will be huge destruction. But how? Through magic spells of course! As the said monsters gradually start appearing in the form of a grid in front of your fortress, the onus is on you to add their numbers together in such a way so as to whip up three different spells (read: sums) to scare the attackers away. Remember the Plants versus Zombies game, in which one had to attack and destroy zombies with dangerous looking plants? The only difference in The Counting Kingdom is that you need to use math equations in place of plants to attack the approaching monsters. This tower defense strategy game will go a long way in brushing up your little one’s addition skills, as he goes past addition problems with increasing complexity at each of the 30 levels presented in the game.
Math Snacks (For 10-12 year olds)
This app is meant especially for those tweens who don’t particularly adore math. It is something akin to a one-stop shop for parents and teachers of the said age group, replete with teacher and student learning material, games and interactive videos. Very unlike the traditional math that is taught in classrooms, Math Snacks caters primarily to the mathematical learning needs of students of grades 6-8 and presents the subject through a variety of different animations and short games. The fact that this app was created by the New Mexico State University Learning Games Lab is reason enough to introduce your kids to it; a very well-designed interactive math app.
With fascinating apps like these on the rise, who knows, there might soon be a day when we won’t know what ‘math phobia’ actually means!
