Mathomatix Number Sense HD iPad app review

I The creators of PunFlay’s Mathomatix Number Sense for the iPad, outdid themselves from a technical and educational standpoint.  As a child works her way through the 5 different games included in the application, she is having fun while gaining number skills and concepts that build on each other in a natural and pedagogically appropriate way.  I wonder how many other apps have been checked against the National and California Standards for teaching mathematics to kindergarteners.  Very impressive! Booster Balls focuses on counting from 1 to 30.  The child collects 10 balls at a time and then feeds them to a cute little monster.  A child’s voice gives clear and easy to follow instructions and provides a model for the child to count along with.  The game is simple and fun.  My six year old granddaughter, Kayla, liked catching the balls and feeding them to the monster even though the game was clearly no challenge.  Five year old Joey and 3 year old Leah really enjoyed counting along, and with each repetition of the game became more confident. Do the Dotty is a “connect the dots” game with sets of 10 numbers up to 30.  Now we are upping the ante.  Not only do you have to be able to count, you have to recognize what the number looks like and follow the instructions, connecting the numbers in sequence to create a picture.  Kayla, of course, breezed through, repeating the game many times, changing the colors of the completed pictures.  Joey declared the game really fun, but required some assistance as the numbers increased.  After a few tries, he began to recognize the numbers on his own.  I could tell that playing the game over a period of time would improve his skills.  Leah loved creating the pictures, but needed a lot of help following the directions and recognizing the numbers. Recognizing  the numbers in sequence is one thing, but finding them in random groups is another challenge.  Numberella provides this challenge.  The players are asked to pick out a specific number floating in a cloud to create a rain shower.  Easy for Kayla, not so easy for Joey and Leah, but entertaining enough not to discourage repetition which leads to learning. Now we come to the really conceptual challenge,  using an understanding of what the numbers stand for to manipulate objects.  Fishoonka and Toot Toot Train accomplish that brilliantly.  Fishoonka emphasizes the concepts of ‘more and less’ by having kids move fish back and forth to create the requested pattern.  Toot Toot Train takes it to the next level by requiring the addition or subtraction of cars to create the desired train length.  Joey needed guidance to achieve this but began to get the hang of it.  Even Leah began to get the idea and was very pleased with herself. All in all, I give this app 5 stars.  As an educator, I appreciate the careful crafting of the games from the concrete to the conceptual.  This is a real learning tool as well as an attractive and entertaining game, a bargain at $1.99.  Bravo, PunFlay! Number Sense HD: $1.99* *Price at time of this writing Disclosure: We received a free copy of this app for review purposes

Posted by Jennifer on Sep 2, 2010 in ipad apps, product provided for review, reviews | 0 comments

Free App Alert: Memory Mania

JVacation’s over for another year. So to cheer up all the kids who just started back at school, we’re now giving away MemoryMania completely free! This is a limited period giveaway offer. MemoryMania is the biggest memory match game for kids in the AppStore. In MemoryMania users find 20 different sets of cards to choose from, and each set contains 15 different pictures. That’s 300 pictures – no other memory match game can compare with MemoryMania! There are two game modes – a classic memory match, where you look for pairs of cards, or a hide-and-seek game, where you try to remember where the picture is and uncover it. MemoryMania users love the 2 different game modes, the large choice of cards and the cute design that’s just perfect for kids. Here's a link to see a video of the app. And if you'd like to read more about the app, you can do so on the developer's website. Memory Mania: FREE* *Price at time of this writing

Life Lesson I Learned from doing my presentation

The presentation I gave at WordCamp Utah went really well. It was the first time I've ever done anything like that. I prepped as much as humanly possible. I practiced as often as I could. I must have updated my slides several times every day for about a month leading up to the conference. AND I also had anxiety dreams almost every night especially the week before. In my nightmares, everything that could go wrong, did. I'd left my power cord at home. I left my laser pointer somewhere. I lost wifi connection and couldn't find my presentation. My nose began to bleed spontaneously. I mean literally everything my subconscious could do to undermine my confidence, it fed it into my nightmares. The irony is that I'm not here to tell you that "... and NONE of it came true... everything was fine!". Well, everything was fine, but that's not the end of the story. The truth is that almost everything I dreamed actually came true. I did accidentally leave my computer's power cord at home. I couldn't find my laser pointer when I needed it. The wifi did get disconnected from my laptop in the middle of my presentation. Really, if you told me that all of that stuff would really happen, I would have run from the room screaming, called up Joseph Scott and told him to forget it, I couldn't do it! In the nightmares, when all of these things happened, the world basically ended. My presentation was a complete failure and life ended there. Every night, in the middle of the night, I'd wake up, jot something down on a piece of paper I needed to remember so that I could prevent the catastrophe I had just envisioned. But despite all these things coming true, life did not end. In fact, nothing happened. Thankfully, my battery lasted long enough to survive the length of my presentation. It did die eventually, but not until about halfway through the day - hours later. The wifi timed out on my laptop and disconnected, but I kept going even though the cool slide remote I had on my iPhone no longer worked. (In my opinion: a design flaw in the app to have it only rely on wifi and not bluetooth!!) The arrow keys work perfectly well to move the slides!! And the laser pointer I realized later I left buried in my purse so I just made do without it. All the anxiety and thinking the sky would fall if any of these things happened, and even my desperate attempts to prevent them - they happened. When they did, there was a logical solution. And life went on. I think I know I spend too much time worrying about what could happen. I spend too much time trying to plan for all conceivable contingencies. And the truth of the matter is that, when a problem is real, there is usually a solution at hand as well. I won't say always. But usually. It certainly isn't worth the time spent worrying about the "what ifs."

Coolest Geek Toy (that my daughter is loving right now)

OSnap Circuits line. Basically they're these pieces that very easily snap together, and you build various electronic devices. A fan, (that also doubles as a flying saucer with the right set up), an alarm, a music box, a light switch, etc. etc. It makes building circuit boards as easily as playing with Lego's. They have a little booklet with easy to follow diagrams showing you how to build the various projects. There are symbols on the pieces that show you how it would look on a "grown up" diagram. As well, the booklet explains what is happening with what you're building - so it's teaching you as well. My daughter cruised through the first set she got for her birthday (something like 100 projects). So we ran out and got an add-on set that had 300. For a kid that normally has a fairly short attention span, she is playing with this toy way more than I expected. If you are looking for a really cool science type toy - this one is a great idea. The site says it's good for kids aged 8 and up - but it is simple enough I think kids a little bit younger than that could even do it. Click here to see the larger Snap Circuits SC-300 set on Amazon.com (you'll notice it has 5 stars and something like 469 reviews. I'm not the only one that thinks this is the coolest toy ever) 😉 Here's a video of her playing with one of her circuit projects:

Missing my puppy

S