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Ask Slashdot: Math and Science iOS Apps For Young Kids?
Oyjord writes "I have a very smart and curious 3-year-old daughter. Before anyone tries to derail my query, yes, we get a lot of play time outside with soccer and baseballs, and inside with blocks, Hot Wheels, PlayDoh, etc. However, on the rare occasion that we do sit down with my iPad, I'd like to solicit recommendations for good Math and Science apps for kids. There are hundreds of horribly gender-biased baking apps and Barbie apps for young girls, but they turn my stomach. She has a wonderfully curious mind, and really likes SkyView already, but I feel lost in a sea of pink and Hello Kitty apps."
My 3.5 year olds were doing algebra with fractions without realizing it.
YOu try to solve mazes by putting blocks in the righ place to let the ball roll down. My nephew has played that game since he was 3.
Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
Check out Dragonbox. I don't have personal experience, but it has been given good reviews. It's supposedly an innovative way to learn algebra in the form of an iOS/Android/... game.
I have 3 kids (5, almost 4 and 2). All three love starfall. It's a website and not an app...and we use it on a PC instead of an iPad, but it teaches everything from ABCs and reading up to numeric comparisons and spacial reasoning in 3D. A significant amount of the website is free, but the rest is paywalled for like $35/year. We paid last year and renewed this year. Not a moment of regret.
Dragon box is worth checking out.
I do not know the creator(s), but I am impressed with the work.
While not technically a science app, I've yet to find a kid who didn't like Cut the Rope. The physics engine in it is a nice introduction to the likes of gravity, elasticity, etc.
Another good game, albeit for when she gets older, is Fat Birds. It puts you in charge of making birds cross a bridge of your making. It's fun for the parents too. (I've an architect friend who miserably failed to 3-star the couple of levels I tossed at him.)
I have young daughters as well, and I have a similar reaction to Barbie dolls and their ilk, primarily because I don't want my daughters (or my son for that matter) to buy into the whole sexualization/objectification of women mindset. However, I don't reflexively avoid gender-targeted toys. Why should boys and girls have to be indistinguishable in their play preferences? What's wrong with the boys deciding that they like Cars and the girls Disney Princesses, as long as their parents are OK with it?
;)
Don't worry, there are plenty of gender neutral family activities, too. I teach them all to shoot firearms as soon as they're old enough.
Why? Do iPads come with mandatory sex change surgery?
Amazing Alex
Angry Birds
Cut the Rope
Dinopedia
Isaac Newton's Gravity HD
Google Earth
Math Bingo
Math Drills
Multiponk
NASA App HD
PBS Kids
Scrabble
The Elements: A Visual Exploration
Tiny Wings HD
TinkerBox HD
WolframAlpha
Word Bingo
My kids love ABC Superstar Kids
It has fun puzzles, teaches how to draw letters, and you can customize the character.
Why don't you buy one and finally be a man then?
Only if you come from Android, because those users are complete c**ts and the change to iPad gets rid of that.
I come from Android all the time. Can't come from the iPad, because the spirit of Steve Jobs keeps the platform clean.
The best I've found is MonkeyMath (for math and numbers). My daughter got it when she was 3 and still loves it, a year later.
Bobo Explores Light is an engaging, entertaining and extremely extensive app exploring light and its consequences. Sounds boring or technical, but they've managed to get an amazing amount of content (we forget how much light affects us and how weird it is!) into a very fun package.
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monkey-preschool-lunchbox/id328205875?mt=8
Of course, the "Cut the Rope" and "Fruit Ninja" games are good in there "can't lose" modes.
Starfall app (same as the website)
PBS.org (warning - essentially streaming video - you need to moderate use of this one!)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo. -- James Klass
Not First Words, that's not just a different app but also done by a different company. I'm a huge fan of First Words Animals, it's great for teaching letter recognition and early spelling. Then again it sounds as if it may be a bit beneath her.
Solar Walk is neat for exploring the solar system.
A friend of mine is behind a really well reviewed iPad app called Numbers League. This covers math down to simple addition and subtraction and up to multiplication, division and simple fractions.
Review: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/07/the-numbers-league-app-improves-on-a-masterpiece/
App store link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/numbers-league/id444781544?mt=8&ls=1
The app is based on a card game with info and online store here: http://www.bentcastle.com/nl.htm
Lol!
pornsharia.com
orgasm.com
pornhub.com
redtube.com
youporn.com
Just a few websites off the top of my head that work great in ios, and are free. Porn apps would be convenient, but are hardly necessary. Aren't people around here always saying websites are good enough and making every website into an app is silly? =P
Shameless plug but I wrote this game called "Cato's Hike" to teach kids programming on iOS, preferably iPad but works great on the iPhone too. Unlike other programming games for the iPad this one uses cards to teach kids how to program and goes into relatively advanced topics like loops and memory without actually appearing to teach :) they just play! I think 3 is too young but 5-6 is good to start and 10 and higher should be able to finish it :)
http://hwahba.com/catoshike
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/catos-hike/id574335479?ls=1&mt=8
Try Quixey app search (where I work):
https://www.quixey.com/search?q=science+games+for+3+year+olds
Or search for sciency things you might want to do with a three-year old:
https://www.quixey.com/search?q=identify+flowers
https://www.quixey.com/search?q=name+animals
It's not so much a gender thing, but your kids won't be happy.
iPhones and iPads are passe, they're for old people.
As a way to help them understand the steps to go from having an idea to planning and developing a program I worked my kids recently to put together a simple puzzle app. My daughter (granted, a bit older than 3) did the drawings and everyone helped test and come up with ideas. It's kind of cool that she can point to something on the iPad and say that she was involved. In the end, the kids didn't get involved in the programming... we're still playing with Scratch for that but they did get to see and be involved in the development process.
The app is "Beamish++" on the iPad and I think it's fun for kids, particularly with the whimsy mode on (an animal gets hidden in the maze of mirrors and when the laser passes over it moos/barks/meows/etc to help you guess where it is).
Why IOS?
Because he's got an iPad.
Did you read the ENTIRE EULA?
He's asking for iOS app suggestions, not another iOS vs. Android debate. He's clearly chosen already, like it or not. So move on.
* Although I will say this, how the hell do you define "lukewarm" in your world? Sure, that may be the word to describe the reviews on some tech sites, but any honest analysis of "reception" whether you like the device or not, whether you like Apple's business practices or not, would recall that Apple sold millions in its first three days. It would be aware that the iPad mini is on many of the top ten most wanted gift lists.
Many passions are age inappropriate, you insensitive clod!
OP wrote of all the wonderful things he and his daughter do. He specifically asked not to be questioned about allowing his daughter a little time with a tablet computer. So for all the high ideals you espouse, you come off as a terrible troll.
Parents cannot be expected to take up, or be in, every second of their child's life. This is unrealistic and insane. He is not denying his daughter his passions, or hers, by allowing her a little time with a tablet computer.
Besides, this is Slashdot, for all you know mobile computing may be a passion of his.
Judging a person to be a horrible parent simply because they allow their daughter a little time with a tablet computer is beyond the pale stupid. The man specifically asked the use not be questioned, and listed a few other things he and his daughter does, but you went ahead anyway. You're a troll.
I would be shocked to discover that his daughter doesn't have access to coloring supplies and pencils. Do you have anything to suggest that he has denied his daughter these things? His question was not about what's the best drawing app, not that a few minutes with one of those would be world ending or harmless in the least. His question was about math and science apps.
Did he speak about these apps in a manner as to suggest that he wishes his iPad to raise his daughter? He sure as hell did not. He gave no time-frame. For all you know he will give her no more than a few minutes with it and given the care and detail of his writing, I imagine that's just what he intends to do.
Such black and white extremism as you've displayed in your comment, that's the real hallmark of a horrible parent. Heaven forbid that you be one.
You'll have to help, for a while...
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crayon-physics-deluxe/id300830915?mt=8
Mission: To provide products that consume time and energy as entertainingly as permitted by the laws of thermodynamics.
The iOS app Wind Tunnel is a pretty good simplified fluid dynamics solver. It has air entering one side of the screen, exiting the other, and the sides of the screen are free edges. You then draw airfoils or shapes with your fingers and see how the fluid patterns change. You can tweak quite a few parameters. For instance you can change speed, look at pressure and vorticity plots as well as velocity, and introduce particles to see where they go. He spent a lot of time on getting the visualizations to look impressive.
It's incompressible flow and he said he was forced to sacrificed some exactness (allowing a bit of mass loss vs. the N-S equations in some circumstances) to get the computations to run efficiently on iOS hardware in realtime, so the visualizations are pretty reasonable but the numbers won't be exact. Overall it's a great app with a solid math/science/engineering foundation.
It's pretty wonderful to watch your kid pick up symbolic manipulation and basic algebra skills in Dragon Box.
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/06/dragonbox/all/
Beware of installing MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Update 2.0.
The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Update 2.0 was offered for 2012 models. However, there continue to be reports of issues with the update. Worse, late last week, Apple pulled the support page about the update as well as the download link.
Some users report issues with video memory as well as with Keychain operation.
On the VMware Fusion Blog, a post warned that the update may cause virtual machines to stop working when a 3D application is run.
http://www.zdnet.com/beware-of-installing-macbook-air-and-macbook-pro-update-2-0-7000007820/
How the hell is he the troll for daring to ask about apps for his daughter? Would you have responded in the same fashion had he asked about Android apps for his daughter? Don't you dare tell me you would have suggested he get the fuck off Slashdot.
Slashdot is just as much about science and math as modern technology. What better audience on Earth is there other than Slashdot for a question like that one? Consider one that has children, one that has education, one that knows of such technology. Can you think of one, care to name it?
As for your matter, again, he already has an iPad. He's not looking to buy a new one. So take your Apple is evil ideology and shove it. It's irrelevant. When he comes around asking for a new tablet, take then as an opportunity to espouse the greatness of Android. Until that point, you're a troll. You're derailing the thread for nothing more than your own satisfaction. You should admit it to yourself.
Nice to see that Apple has finally stopped banning programming tutors like that.
I want to see a complete separation of church and state here. Hardware should be separate from software. Software should be separate from services.
I want to watch Nokia movies on my Samsung hardware running Google's Android, and then back them up to DropBox.
That's how it works - more or less - in the PC space. I don't understand why it doesn't in the tablet and smartphone space? Why would I buy a tablet that only worked with content from one provider? Whether that's Amazon, Microsoft or Apple - it's setting up a nasty little monopoly which will drive up prices and drive down quality.
I know, I know. The mantra of "It Just Works". I'm mildly sick of having to configure my tablet to talk to my NAS, and then get the TV to talk to both of them. That situation isn't just due to my equipment all coming from different manufacturers - it's mostly due to those manufacturers not implementing open standards.
http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/11/i-dont-want-to-be-part-of-your-fucking-ecosystem/
My 3 year old daughter has fun playing with these, they seem to me to be reasonably educational and I don't have to cringe whenever they're being played:
The biggest surprise was how much she really wanted to type words in Scribblenauts, which is something I assumed would be way beyond her level. She's often frustrated a bit because she really can't read much beyond her own name and a few common things, but she's obsessed with it.
"This is my body - Anatiomy for kids" is an interesting, free app with nice interactive illustrations covering bones, blood vessels & heart, breathing, nervous system, etc.
Solar walk is great for finding about the planets and the 3d motion graphics are really fun.
Not sure how educational it is, but the Sand Game is her current favourite
Three years old is a great age to be, both for the parent and the child. Ah, happy memories...
For my money, particularly at this age, books and "generic" LEGO sets (e.g. the Creator series) are your best bet. For the love of all that is good in the world, steer clear of the "themed" and movie tie-in rubbish, preferably altogether, but at least until she's into double digits :-) And, more generally, avoid at all costs any toy with a "TRY ME!" button on the packaging - it's invariably used to flash lights, make noise, or do some lame action that the child should be doing using his/her imagination. You'll save on batteries and noise, and your child will get more enjoyment out of the toys. But I digress...
If you're intent on going the apps route, I would recommend "Mathletics Student", which teaches K-12 maths, and when she's older "Into Science". (Disclosure: I work for Mathletics.com, and IntoScience.com is our sister company. The latter is just starting and operates on the web and doesn't have an app out yet; in any case it's aimed at older children. And both products require a paid account to download activities.)
Pokemon Red... 'but beware of getting sucked in helping her play it', he said aloud, patiently awaiting White3.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
I have a boy but in that same age range. I too have been frustrated with the lack of quality apps. Mermaid waters is pretty good with math and matching games, math train is also decent as is superwhy but the best app I've found is Word Wizard. It is the speak and spell you always wanted. Very high quality app. The very best app I've seen is Redshift. Beats all the other star maps hands down. It is pricey but worth every penny. And before anyone gets uptight, no I am not associated with any of the developers in any way.
It is call: Going to the library!
Seriously, teach your kids to use their heads not a glorified calculator.
When they get into the real world, they are not always going to have an iPad or some electronic device to think for them, they will have to use their own heads.
I have a 2.5yo, the first toy I bought him was a slide rule.
I am so fucking sick of you fucking fanbois having to turn every conversation on it's head so you can fly the flag of your little techno-religious cause. It's just like dealing with a religious zealot, they look for any pause in a conversation to interject their diseased thinking and they'll use any possible fingerhold in the dialog to force their pitons in. It's fucking annoying.
The person owns an iPad. What the fuck is the problem? Stop trying to turn this into another endless iOS vs Android battle. Each has their virtues and I don't give a fucking fuck what you use as long as I don't have to buy it.
Now shut the fuck up.
The new update will let you share programs too... I hope they don't block that :) fingers crossed!
DragonBox is a fascinatingly friendly and effective way to teach symbolic arithmetic to children
StoneCypher is Full of BS
My four year old recommended Monster Physics , tinker box, Umi Numbers, Physics Ball. I've noticed that problem solving is becoming second nature in this young mind
no matter how good it is, it is human nature always wants to make things better
How about get a real computer so she can learn to program?
You can get one from ZaReason: http://zareason.com/ in the USA and http://zareason.co.nz/ in New Zealand. You are not limited to Ubuntu, you can also get Fedora, and other Linux distributions preloaded.
The major benefits of Linux is that nothing is hidden from you, and there are plenty of free applications - including those dealing with mathematics and science. Also you don't need to get anti-virus software.
For beginners programming, I recommend Python - one of many free programming languages. Even if she never wants to write her own application, programming is good for learning mathematics.
Remember most mobile devices such as Android phones and eBooks are based on Linux - not to mention Linux is also used on servers & supercomputers.
Fashion math is a math game designed for girls. They solve math problems to earn credits that they can use to dress up their doll. I wrote it for my daughters to help them learn math and they really enjoy it. I also made a little money but the big thing was how much it helped my daughters.
Get her some old Baby Einstein tapes. It will accomplish the same goal of turning her brain into mush before it can even begin to properly develop.
My nephews want to play Subway Shuffle every time I bring my iPod Touch. It's a train shuffle game, but with the added twist that each train can only move along tracks of its own color. It's probably a bit too complex for a 3 year old, but in one or two years time your daughter would probably be able to solve the simpler levels. The higher levels are quite challenging even for adults.
Namco's "Isaac Newton's Gravity" puzzler, she worked through all 100 of the puzzles over about a one year period, with only the occasional help from me.
Minecraft PE, which now that she's older she's getting more into the desktop version instead, but when she was younger I could set her up in creative mode, and it would act simply as an infinite lego set for her. (She also adores real legos as well)
Neither may seem like straight up math or science, but she's picked up some surprisingly well thought out ideas about physics and architecture from both.
The Montessorrium apps, like Intro to Math (and Intro to Letters) she got a huge amount of use from, which while just basic as the names would imply was good around that age.
DragonBox+ is awesome and I highly recommend it, even to adults. It's basically a series of algebraic puzzles, using cards that start off not as numbers.
When she got curious about elements, we picked up the Nova Elements app, which answered her questions at the time pretty well.
Most of the rest of the items we've picked up for her for the iPad haven't been specifically science or math based, though a lot of book style apps. She's a big fan of Curious George, the Bartleby Buttons book/apps, and anything about DIsney's Cars. The new Reading Rainbow app has been great too, as it came out just as she was really starting to read on her own, so it's given her a lot of material to easily choose from.
Just something from personal experience. I got my kid bunch of nice learning software for Android. He loved them, played them, learned a lot.
Then we had our student led parent teacher meeting/conference. Turns out, he doesn't do jack in class because he finds it all too boring. And it is, when he gets to race a car for solving the right question, sticking stuff with glue on paper is rather pale.
Result... he knows his stuff but is "officially" a C grade student. He is in grade 1 so no worries, however I will skip the software to tame his exitment level.
I came across Butterfly Math and Bugs & Buttons through Kindertown and they are both awesome. Try it and see if your kid likes it.
Algebra Touch is an amazing app that demonstrates how variables work in algebraic equations, highly recommended. Maybe too high level for a 3 year old but it's about as mathy as iOS can get.
Throw the iPad away and spend some time with your kids. Read Dr. Seuss books to them. Do puzzles together. Play make believe.
Teach them to use their minds.
Then we had our student led parent teacher meeting/conference. Turns out, he doesn't do jack in class because he finds it all too boring.
You found out how to make learning interesting for your kid, and because he can't do well in what is ignorantly a boring and mediocre environment, your plan is to dumb down his learning until he can be pacified with the rest of the sheep?
Bad plan. Home school, or find a school that can make things interesting.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Seriously, teach your kids to use their heads not a glorified calculator.
Lots of the best software is not a "calculator". It's a simulator, with the huge difference being you get to rapidly change conditions and get a better idea for how things do in fact behave in the real world.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Nice to see that Apple has finally stopped banning programming tutors like that.
They only banned them for a period of a few months, and I think even that was dropped about two years ago. There have been other programming tools on the iPad for ages now.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Although three is way too young an age to have your mind warped by having whitespace define blocks, you can program in python on an iPad.
Another option is Codea to learn to code, or the more recent ScriptKit.
But really three is probably too young for a real coding environment...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
How about Shodor's Math Flyer? Perhaps a little too advanced, but then again, maybe not.
Out soon is a game that looks like it might be approachable even to a three year old, and to any gender - Lemurs Chemistry.
It should be out any day now (I didn't work on it but I know some of the people that did).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Try http://ookaisland.com it's awesome! It's an amazing learning game for kids and is on PC and Mac, kids don't even realize that they are learning, my god niece loves it!
This is a great letter recognition, word recognition and reading app for that age group that has a great variety of mini games that handle progression, fight boredom. I wish it had math because I think the quality is great.
Smarty Pants School
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smarty-pants-school/id403824279?mt=8
Only the iWankers say so, because they MUST use a web site. While I can use apps to my full satisfaction. It is a different world, you know. The words "forever alone" sound cozy, warm and reassuring here.
Of course not, it is for the company legal counsel to peruse. I just use the device.
Imagine what would have happened if your mom decided that she has a very artistic and sensitive 3 year old boy and restricted your activities to ONLY knitting and tea sets. I think it would kind of hurt your chances of procreating. Let her be familiar with what her friends are into and what she will still appreciate, despite being smart and curious. Nobody is telling you have to stop with that of course. LunchBox is a good all around puzzle game. Think also of general apps like Garageband for learning music, iPhoto for taking and editing pictures and Google Earth for well learning about Earth.
"European crap"?
From https://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2012/01/25/more-crap-from-the-e-u/
"Now that the European Union’s member states are flailing around attempting to implement their miserable cookie directive, the European Commission has decided it’s a good time to retard the Internet some more. Today the European Commission will release an already-leaked new version of the Data Protection Directive which firmly establishes a European right to data erasure, or “right to be forgotten.” Article 17 will give EU residents an unprecedented inalienable right to control and delete facts that were once voluntarily communicated by the subject. Moreover, the right to erasure covers all publications of the personal information."
It's not all bad in the E.U., hence it must be African.
If this is double posted I apologize. Slashdot was trying to tell me I'm not a human. ;)
I have two patern completion apps Kids Pattern Recognition and Kids Sequences, Counting and Patterns. I have two girls, 3 and 5 and am a female developer, so I get wanting to avoid the pink washing of your daughter. Both my girls like my apps, there are rocket ships and really cute monster aliens that they enjoy naming and describing. www.corvidapps.com
Try our splash math apps. They fir perfectly. Also it is one of the best educational elementary app for kids
Children were not originally designed to play with electronic devices. Children prefer objects which they can hold, throw, eat and break. This type of behavior can prove very expensive with an iPad. Better suggestion:
1. Borrow or buy a jigsaw with a thin blade. A hand jigsaw with a thin blade is okay but try to find a jigsaw with a table:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/tls/3430299340.html
2. Buy a sheet of thin 1/8 inch tempered hardboard (aka high-density fiberboard) or 1/8 inch plywood:
www.homedepot.com/buy/1-8-in-4-ft-x-8-ft-tempered-hardboard-832777.html
www.lowes.com/pd_95321-99899-95321_0__?productId=3605348
3. Buy some spray adhesive:
www.drillspot.com/products/1348820/3m_45_1025oz_spray_adhesive
4. Download puzzle templates suitable for your child's age
https://www.google.com/search?q=puzzle+templates
5. Find some nice colorful pictures or posters to make into puzzles. Car dealerships often have great car posters for little boys. Highway rest stops or AAA have maps which make great puzzles. Hair salons have plenty of posters of women's hair styles. Doll shops have promotional posters of dolls. Travel agencies have promotional posters of exotic destinations. You get the idea.
6. Spray adhesive to the back of the poster and glue it on to the 1/8 inch board. Let sit for a while to cure.
7. Spray adhesive to the back of the puzzle design and glue to the other side of the board
8. For younger children cut a rectangular border to surround the puzzle and another rectangle to go under the puzzle
http://www.dinosaurjunction.com/130-46-thickbox/t-rex-wooden-puzzle.jpg
9. Start cutting according to the puzzle pattern and make toys which your children can pass on to their children and which have been proven for thousands of years not to cause attention deficit disorder.
10. Store the puzzles in empty boxes you get from a shoe store or cigar shop
Or you could just spend $7 and order one online:
http://www.dinosaurjunction.com/400-Shop-for-dinosaur-puzzles
https://www.google.com/search?q=wooden+jigsaw+puzzles&tbs=p_ord:p&tbm=shop
Your kids will have plenty of time to play with computers when they grow up. No need to start when they are three.
Another physics game. The first levels are easy enough for a young child, and our little girl loves it. With the fans, boards, and other mechanisms its a good introduction to gravity and other forces.
If they are bright, make sure you protect them from the school system trying to dumb them down. Also, some things need to work in sequence.
My son more or less taught himself to read and write with a BBC program "Words and Pictures" approx. 2.5 years old, so by age 3 he was reading from books. The challenge is that the kids may not be ready for comprehending what they pick up - try to stick where possible with the age range until comprehension has caught up.
And enjoy them - they grow up *way* too fast :)
Translation: "I'm obsessed with Apple and know I want an iPad, but I've decided to adopt the identity of rad anti-Apple guy who buys kewl Apple clones."
"If New York restaurants are so great, why do people ask locals for recommendations?"
You nailed it, Sparky.
You're old.
And boring.
Here, here! I am so sick of hearing people ask "What's best for my child's upbringing?", when they should be asking "What's best for making epSos-de feel good about my child's upbringing?"
There's a website called 10monkeys which is aimed at exactly that age group. The website is designed to work well on an iPad as well.
A bunch of us grown-ups were stealing the iPad from each other just to play that one a few years ago, and behaving all around like 5 year olds.
So if you'd like your daughter to almost double her age overnight, get her that!
(besides that, it's a fun little app where you have to drag balloons together to add up to 7. Later levels include negative numbers. Sounds perfect for roughly your daughter's age group to have a go at).
Try TechDraw or TechDraw Free. Could be great introduction to geometry for her.
In my opinion, the best iOS game is COGS. Its a puzzle suitable for all ages... Just play it yourself and let her play once...I am sure she will love it.
And/or Google Earth. My little guy loves both, even more now that both have 3D stuff. Entertaining and educational on many levels. At the most basic, it's just plain fun to spin and push things around.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
A variant of Memory which use math. See www.q-x-innovation.com
DragonBox, The algebra game from WeWantToKnow, won the "Best in show" at the International Serious Game Award in Los Angeles in August. The game kicked out AngryBirds as the most sold app in any category when testlaunched in Norway. Best for kids that are 6 years +. 80 % of the kids learned to solve equations after only 2 hours of playing the game
So what if you feel lost in a sea of pink. Are you trying to turn her into a boy? Girls like pink. Do you care more about what you are happy with or she? These Barbie apps etc still teach her, however My kids uses Team Umi Zoomi and Dora for math and stuff and Winni the Pooh for reading and writing. Neither of these are gender based.
My 3rd child turns 3 today!
Here are some educational games he likes:
MonkeyMath
Letter School
Flow
As far as teaching him math, we are using Singapore Math curriculum, so at his age we do geometric puzzles and counting. But he is coming up with correct answers to the puzzles in MonkeyMath, so I think he learned addition from that game.
Because of Letter School, he recognizes and can write most of the alphabet. But he reads letters in a word in random order, always putting E first because its the first letter in his name.
LetterSchool doesn't fit in the science category, but logic and reasoning are the foundations of math. I think recognizing symbols and patterns and associating them with ideas is a big step for a kid, and develops his reasoning abilities. So I think LetterSchool is relevant.
Have you contacted technical support? Have you gone to an AASP?
Our kids love these two games and they have done wonders for their basic numeracy. Much recommended.
I also recommend Little Alchemy, a web based combinatorial game.
I have a 4yr and 2yr old girls, so I have read other comments with interest. Will definitely be trying some of those out. I've only used Amazing Alex and agree its a great puzzle for my 4yr old.
Here are some of my own suggestions.
Motion Math Hungry Guppy - For very simple addition. You need to join together bubbles holding 1, 2 or 3 dots to make a new bubble matching the number stuck on the side of a cute orange fish, which then swims over and eats the matching bubble and gets bigger and bigger until end of round.
Happy Pig - Children's Logic Game - fill in missing items in a pattern arrangement - my 4yr old knocked this over in a couple of days but I am happy it served its purpose in that time. It was interesting to see her cognition go from incomprehension to mastery in that short time. Revisits occasionally.
Pit Droids - A generator spawns different coloured droids in one direction, and matching coloured arrows need to placed on the ground in front of them to turn them towards matching coloured pits. I've enjoyed helping her get started and now she can now do some levels herself. Got it after reading this review http://apps4ikids.com/2012/06/star-wars-pit-droids-surprisingly-educational-puzzler/ which discusses it being a preliminary training for programming.
Chess Pro With Coach by Christophe Theron - training for strategic thinking - not that my 4yr old is anywhere near that! but the computer can be set really dumb and slowly turned up over the next few years. It graphically suggests good moves and pieces under threat.
Timmy's Preschool Adventure - Simple pattern/puzzle solving. Animation is a little B grade but still engaging for both 2yr and 4yr old.
Kid Klok - shows numbers around the circumference for both hours and minutes - each a separate colour matching hour/minute hands and digital clock reading.
Flow Free - path planning - 4yr old picked it up much faster than I thought she would.
Team Umizoomi - numbers and simple math in an engaging presentation for both the 2yr and 4yr old
Bugs and Buttons - lots of cognitive mini-games - 2yr and 4yr both love it.
ToonTastic - just to round out with a non-science app - yet the decision making learnt from creative play is an important skill. Drag cartoon characters onto a background then record an animation with voice-over by the kids.
My daughter worked all the way through this app on my iPhone when she was 4; If we get an iPad this Xmas, we're getting the Hello Kitty apps first.
We also have the pencil-n-paper Umizoomi boxes and some of the Hello Kitty workbooks and flashcards; this seems to make the transition to her PK class easier.
> My comment can be quoted whenever, wherever, so long as you bloody well provide attribution! >
If a child is smart then the child's parents are probably smart too.
You can write your own app to teach your child and your child can help you write it. That's what I did for my son (not that I implying that I'm smart). He was happy to "help" write the app, he is fairly happy to use it, and it's been a great help for him: he's been learning math in spite of the nonsense that's being taught at school.
In all seriousness:
We just released our app "The Digits: Fraction Blast". It's for slightly older kids, (though we tested with kids as young as 4) and it's designed to give an introduction to the concept of fractions.
The app is more like an interactive show, with an interactive layer over live-action video. The idea is to combine storytelling with the interactions to appeal to different kinds of learners.
I feel your pain on the gender biased apps. We went through a lot of design iterations to find character designs that could appeal to both genders, but without doing just "Pink" vs "Blue".
Only the iWankers say so, because they MUST use a web site. While I can use apps to my full satisfaction. It is a different world, you know. The words "forever alone" sound cozy, warm and reassuring here.
Okay, which Androids do you use for "full satisfaction", and where did you get them from - and what else did you catch there.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Or maybe to teach his children that in life, there WILL be boring parts,
And in those boring parts to you make things better or only endure?
There are enough sheep in the world. Why make another when you know better?
Life is not always fun and interesting.
It's at least one of those if you are doing it right.
Heck, most first time jobs will be pretty boring, repetitive and utterly dull,
It doesn't have to be. I know better and so should you. My first programming job was very interesting and I learned a ton from it. There is literally nothing on this earth boring if you do not want it to be.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Hi Oyjord, why don't you try out Numerosity: Play with Math!
It is free to try out and the first chapter contains a sample level of all the other chapters.
It starts with basic addition and then it moves on to subtraction, multiplication, division and the order of operations. Each paid chapter has 20 levels each growing in difficulty and teaching new concepts.
The whole idea of the app is to encourage children to experiment and move the numbers around and discover the rules of maths on their own rather than being spoon-fed the information.
Both my 4 and 7 year olds love Monster Physics. And by the same author, Stack the States and Stack the Countries are excellent for geography.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4hQ4J4BFOM
I have a son who turned 3 at the end of September. He's been diagnosed with High Functioning Autism. The good news is, he reads at a 2nd grade level, writes at first grade level, and is currently learning multiplication. The bad news is, he will only wear white, won't look at strangers, and doesn't play with other kids.
He has his an Android tablet. The learning apps available for Android are a total waste of time. Despite hours of searching, I could never find a single one that was worthwhile. Mostly, he uses his tablet for viewing his favorite YouTube videos. The best learning videos we've found are from Special Kids by TMW Media, Brainy Baby, and something called Mrs. Phipps and Snoothy. However, even that takes a huge amount of time because there is so very very little published for boys. Everything is aimed at girls or contains anti-male overtones.
Ultimately, my wife and I converted one room of our house to a classroom and do all the teaching ourselves.
Where's my water is good. Fun, problem solving type game.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion
Quite a few. Pris, Zhora and Rachael are an awesome threesome, T-X isn't bad at all when reprogrammed properly, Eve and the Robogeisha also give great service. They are also self-cleaning and quite hygienic. What has iOS got that can match them?
Tozzle on the apple store was a hit with my daughter at 1 and 2, possibly a lot bit basic for a 3 year old but try it out. If nothing else she will master it in a couple of weeks and move on to something else. Apart from that my almost 4 yo is onto Angry Birds!
I would recommend:
A text editor (I like iA Writer) for writing stories. My son and I write them together before bed sometimes.
A drawing/painting program.
Music apps. Garage Band is very easy for kids to pick up, and other music apps like Figure and Animoog are a lot of fun.
We need an "angry" moderation.