Unfortunately, many children are simply not getting the practice and repetition they want. In 2017, over 50 percent of 4th graders weren't proficient at 4th grade Common Core math standards. Slower learners, like those with disabilities, wind up falling further and further behind.
Fortunately, new educational apps for iPad, iPhone, and Android are taking math instruction into another level. Kids can use these apps at school or at home to learn, practice, and learn mental math. This enables children to devote more brain power to learning new concepts, rather than counting.
1. Math Ace
Launched in the summer of 2018, Math Ace is one of the newest and best mental math practice apps for gifted and autistic kids alike. There are programs for each grade. Each app is a whole Common Core command workbook disguised as a game.
Math Ace breaks the frequent Core mathematics standards for every year into minute-long mathematics challenges. They are like digital worksheets, that adapt to student mistakes to increase learning.
What puts Math Ace the top of our list is that it excels in both fun and learning. For each minute of mathematics practice, students receive a token to blast off into orbit at an enjoyable jetpack mini-game which usually lasts under one minute. Students earn medals doing math practice to level up their jetpack and fly into space.
Within 10 minutes of program usage, students answer between 100 to 200 math facts, higher than the other apps we've tested. And the dynamic nature of the challenges is extremely effective.
The app layout is beautiful, and easy to use. There's one large collection of challenges which makes it simple to keep track of your child's progress.
We recommend setting a target for you children to earn 10 medals daily. They will be on a fast track to mental math mastery. Start a free trial with Math Ace for one week, which gives you full access to all Ace Apps such as Math Ace and Spelling Ace. After that, complete access is $19.99 / 3 weeks.
2. Splash Math
Second on our list is Splash Math, a wonderful all about mathematics learning program, with a broad selection of questions and entertaining, colorful design. Within each class, there are numerous levels.
While slightly less powerful than Math Ace for mental math mastery, Splash Math is a excellent tool for your child to use daily. Contrary to Math Ace, which repeats questions that students get wrong until they achieve mastery, Splash Math appears to select questions randomly. The Splash Math challenges are also untimed.
Start a free trial for one week. After that, full access costs $19.99 / 3 weeks.
3.
Children Academy is an e-learning platform for Pre-K through 3rd grade. It has a fun visual layout, and provides thousands of challenges. Each challenge contains a set of pages with a number of adorable problems on them. Students answer the problems by circling with their finger.
In 10 minutes of usage, students may answer between 50 to 100 math problems, which is great. The worksheets do not seem to be as lively as in Math Ace. Mistakes do not cause problems to be replicated.
While Kids Academy is a great overall e-learning platform, it's less effective at creating mental math command quickly than the apps above.
4. Prodigy
Prodigy is a fun role playing game (RPG) with mathematics problems folded in to the battles. And it is free.
In 10 minutes of play, students will answer about 30 math questions. The actual amount varies based on how many battles students get in to.
Prodigy is free and widely recommended by teachers. It becomes third place on the list because of how fun the RPG game is, although it's less capable of mental math mastery. Kids who may be resistant to learning can get sucked into the game.
The developers make money by selling in-app updates and real world toys.
5. SmartKids
SmartKids offers an impressive choice of mini-games to teach a broad range of topics. Kids go crazy for this program. While SmartKids is a great general e-learning platform, the pace of this mini-games means that pupils only answer a couple of math problems per minute of app usage. In 10 minutes of play, students may only answer between 20 and 30 math problems.
If your child wants to catch up, we recommend one of the other apps above. Each mini-game requires the participant to learn the rules of the game, and leaves less space for studying mental math. Tracking a child's proficiency can also be harder.
We hope your child enjoys using the programs above to create great mental math skills.
