KidCalc Math Fun

I absolutely adore KidCalc Math Fun. It is well executed, educational, fun and has an amazing amount of options for a $.99 app. If you’ve got a preschooler or a child in elementary school this is one to buy.  There are five different parts to this app. I’ll give a brief run down of each one and I’m going to save my favorite for last.

Flash Cards – Simple flash cards. A number is displayed and spoken out loud. Touch the rotation circle on the flashcard and it flips over to display a matching amount of something. Swipe your finger to the left to see the next card. At the bottom of the screen is a picture frame icon. Tap this and the theme of the flashcard changes. The background will change and so do the things being counted. Some of the theme choices are Christmas, Spring, Outer Space. Those are just a few. If you tap on the settings icon (also at the bottom of the screen)  you can change things up even more. You can set the flashcards to count by ones, twos, threes, fours, etc., going all the way up to hundreds. You can even have them display prime numbers, binary numbers and Fibonacci numbers. Whoa! The app lets you pick the lowest numbered card displayed and the highest. You can change the order from low to high, high to low or random.  Plenty of options there! 

Counting Puzzle – Here you will see number cards displayed. If you tap them in order they disappear, revealing a hidden picture. Again you can tap the frame icon and change up the theme. In settings you can select the number of squares that are displayed, how the numbers are counted and sorted. Again, plenty of options that will make the game work for both younger and older players.

Math Puzzle – This is the same idea as the Counting Puzzle except you must solve a math problem to erase the card and reveal part of the picture. Tap on the problem you want to solve and you’ll see it written out and displayed using items. For example 3+2=? would be shown as three Martians plus two Martians equals…and then you tap the correct answer. This is a fantastic feature for those just learning how to do addition and subtraction. You can also tap the rotate button and see the problem displayed without the pictures. In the settings for Math Puzzle you can select beginner or intermediate problems. Problems can be from addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. There is also a review feature that can be turned on (or off). This feature lets you listen  and watch the math problem being completed after you’ve entered your answer. A little repetition always helps.

Count Snowflakes – This is my son’s favorite game.  Snowflakes are falling on the screen and you’ve got to tap them to count them. My son likes to tap as quickly as he can so he can hear the numbers spoken rapidly. You can turn on holiday music and the frame icon will let you choose from three snowy scenes. In settings you can choose the highest number you’d like to count to. When you reach this number a trumpet sounds and you start over again. I am not kidding about this…you can count up to 1000 snowflakes. Do you know how long that would keep my son busy? A good amount of time.

Calculator – This is my favorite part of KidCalc. The calculator has a terrific kid friendly feature. Let’s say you’ve got the sports theme turned on.  You press the number eight, eight shows up at the top of the screen, you hear “eight basketballs” and then the balls appear on the screen. Next you tap the plus sign and see and hear “plus”. Tap the number four, see it and hear “four basketballs” and there’ll they be on the screen. Now tap equals and it all comes together. Eight basketballs plus four basketballs equals twelve basketballs.  The problem is displayed at the top and the pictures illustrating the problem are displayed underneath. The frame icon will let you change themes in this game as well. The calculator only performs addition and subtraction and the highest number you can enter is ten. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I kept trying out problem after problem because the calculator is just so darn cute.

I am amazed at the variety and quality you get with KidCalc. The graphics are adorable, the ability to change themes is great and the options for the games seriously impressed me. I haven’t even talked about the app’s narration. It’s done by the developer’s daughter and she does a terrific job. The way she says things made me smile. Who doesn’t want that when using a math app??  KidCalc is something that my five, seven and ten year old can all use in different ways. Fantastic, fantastic app. Grab this one, I mean it!

*2/6/2010 – The version of KidCalc that’s on my phone is now called KidCalc 7-in-1 Math Fun.  It now features “Number Tracing”.  Here you can use your finger to trace the numbers 1-20. There is also a “Flash Card Champion” game where you complete math flashcards and try to beat your time.  All of the customization is still there and you still get a tremendous amount of content for your money.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Steve Glinberg

*A free version of KidCalc is also available. It doesn’t contain as many features as the full version but it’s got a fair amount. If you look at it’s description in iTunes you’ll see a run down of what is available in the full vs. free versions.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.