The iPhone Mom

Wordulous is a simple game that turns out to be not so simple and addicting once you begin playing. The game gives you six letters and you need to create as many different words as you can with those letters. When you create words you score points. The game allows you a few helps as you play. You can shuffle the letters and look at them in a fresh light. Or you can reveal one letter from each word. I found that helped me figure out some of the words but it was still difficult coming up with them all.

Wordulous les you chose the length of words you’d like to figure out and the time limit for your play. You’ve also got the ability to double tap words to see their definition. I liked this feature because there were a few times I created words that I didn’t even know existed. It’d be nice to know what those names meant!

My 7 year old loves word games like this and so do I.  Wordulous is one of those apps that’s easy to learn but takes a long time to master. We’re enjoying playing it but are going to have to keep working to improve our scores.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: 99 Games

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

Kosmic Math-Family is a space exploration game that will have your family practicing their math skills. You set out on a mission to explore the planets and along the way you need to complete math problems. With enough correct answers you can place your flag on the planet and move on, earning a higher rank as you go. As you move through the grade levels there are twenty levels of difficulty in the game. From what I’ve seen this app is much, much more than a set off flashcards for practicing drills. It works with you and adapts the problems you’re given based on how well you’re doing. If you’re struggling and having trouble it will adjust the problems to fit your skill level.

The Family version gives you up to five user profiles. Problems for the grade levels Pre-Kindergarten through 4th Grade are represented. While you are playing you can manually adjust the difficulty of the problems. You can also change the amount of time you have to answer a problem and the amount of time you have on each planet. You can view a report that gives your statistics and shows how you’re doing on the current planet as well as how you’ve done on others.

Kosmic Math-Family gives you the option of enabling data synching. To do this you’ll need to provide your email and set up an account. The App Store description says the account is included in the license for a year. Once you’ve done that you can login to the Kosmic Math website and view the statistics for everyone who has a user profile in the app. Their progress and statistics will be easy to track. When they finish a drill you’ll also receive an email showing how they did.  If you have two iPhones or iPod Touches you can install the app on both devices. By enabling data synching on the second phone (use the same email to register) you’ll allow the data from one phone to be synched up with the other. This means your child can play on mom’s phone and then pick up right where they left off on dad’s phone. Plus, the progress from both phones will be synched up with the website data. You don’t have a limit to how many devices you can sync together, you’ve just got to use the same email to register them and they’ll all have the same users.

My one suggestion for Kosmic Math is to adjust the narration on the screen where you adjust the difficulty, time, etc. The instructions are helpful but they go on and I found them a little distracting after awhile. Perhaps there’s a way for them to play the first time you view the screen but not again after that.

I really like the fact that Kosmic Math adjusts to your abilities. My kids have all gotten frustrated at one time or another over flashcards. It’s nice to know that this app will keep things within their skill level so they can have some success. This is one of the more expensive math apps that I’ve seen but you do get five user profiles and it covers a wide range of math skills. It’s definitely something different than a flashcard card app that gives you random problems. It works with you and adapts the problems you’re given based on how well you’re doing. If you’re struggling and having trouble it will adjust the problems to fit your skill level. I like the fact that each user has their own setup, this means all of my kids can use the same app. Plus, being able to play on my phone and my husband’s is a nice feature. It’s only fair that his phone get used by the kids as much as mine does.

There is also a free version of Kosmic Math available in the App Store. It allows you to have profiles for up to four players. Kosmic Math-Educator is another option. It’s licensed for one player and is designed for use by tutors, teachers and schools. This version would allow teacher’s to track their classes progress in the game and see how they’re doing individually. It would also allow a child to play at school and then continue at home on mom or dad’s device for extra practice.  How fantastic would that be to get an iPod Touch to use in math class? My kids would be in heaven!

Price when Reviewed: $7.99

Seller: Sloth Media, LLC

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

Disclosure is a word puzzle app. It’s sort of like Wheel of Fortune but without the wheel. And Vanna. The game comes in four different editions – Classic, Kids, Our World and Art. Each edition has different categories. You select one to begin and are given a title, phrase, word…something that you have to guess. The app has varying levels of difficulty and what you choose will determine how many letters you’re given at the beginning. Once those letters have been revealed you need to tap on the question marks and try to guess the missing letters. When you guess one correctly it will be revealed everywhere in the puzzle that it belongs. If you get stuck then the “hint” button will reveal another letter. When you think you’ve got it figured out tape “guess” and type out your answer. Points are awarded for correct letter guessing and points are taken away when you get them wrong.

Disclosure has two “challenges” or ways to play. In the time challenge you choose a set amount of time and then try to get the highest score in that amount of time. In the category challenge you have to complete every question in the category as you try to get the highest score.

The app comes with the Classic Edition. If you want to install one of the other editions you’ll need to download them from within the app. They cost $.99 each.

I haven’t tried the Kids Edition but that is the version I would put on my phone. I found this game to be an easy learn but still tricky, especially if you play on the hard levels. You might think you’ve got the answers but when you see all those question marks staring at you and the app begins beeping because you keep making wrong guesses it starts to mess with your head.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Driftwood Software

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

Math Kingdom combines math facts practice with an adventure game. You are the hero who must save a captured princess and recover the Math Kingdom’s stolen treasures. To do this you’ve got to solve math problems and make your way through the castle. You are asked to solve a math problem and then write your answer on the screen. If you get the answer correct you break though a castle wall. After breaking down ten walls you’ll face a monster. (They’re meant to be monsters but don’t worry, they’re not very scary.) The monster will present you with a more challenging word problem. If you solve this one correctly you recover one of the lost treasures. As you progress through the app the math problems increase in difficulty.  Each time you begin or continue a game you are given five “lives”. When you answer a problem incorrectly you lose a life. When all of your lives are gone it’s game over but don’t worry, this is a friendly app. It gives you the choice of starting over at the beginning or continuing where you left off.

When I was playing Math Kingdom I did have a little bit of trouble with the app crashing as I was trying to load a saved game. I powered off and then restarted my iPhone and after that I had no problems. I like the way Math Kingdom jazzes up math practice. This app is a fun alternative to flashcards. I especially like the way it incorporates actually writing the numbers. This is fantastic practice for kids and the handwriting recognition works very well. It did a terrific job deciphering my sloppy chicken scratch.

Price when Reviewed: $.99    FREE

Seller: Acoco Interactive

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

Clever, clever, clever and sneaky! Math Bumpies-Adventure on Math Island: Addition & Subtraction had me practicing my math facts while thinking that I was playing a game. And yes, I said me. I tried this one out because I can always use practice with my addition and subtraction. But you better believe I’m going to encourage my girls to try out this new “game” though. They’ll have their math facts down cold after a few go arounds with the Bumpies.

In Math Bumpies you choose a character to take you around Math Island. I chose Mister Chickenpants simply because he has an awesome name.  Next you choose your level, easy medium or hard. You also choose whether you want to play with addition facts, subtraction or both. And now you’re ready to journey around the island. You begin at Easy Street. The idea is to tilt your iPhone  and roll your character from left to right. As  you travel along you’ll see math problems in the sky. Solve the math problem and then tap on the screen when your character is under the correct answer. If you bump the right one you’ll score some points. When you reach the finish line you’re given your final score based on correct answers and the time it took you to finish. Then you’re off to the next round. The app allows you to create more than one player profile and you will select your level of difficulty and area of focus each time. This means that kids with different sill levels can all share the app and as they improve their skills they can continue to challenge themselves with more difficult questions. Math Bumpies also has a leaderboard that will keep track of individual player stats and high scores. Just a bit of friendly competition among siblings, right?

I thought Math Bumpies – Adventure on Math Island was a lot of fun for a math app! I loved the way it combines the math practice with the game. My only issue with the game was the voice over when you  bump into an incorrect answer. It’s really a pretty nitpicky thing too. Sometimes you hear “sorry” and sometimes you hear “whatever”.  “Whatever” is a phrase that I don’t particularly care for. I’ve never really liked it but I think I’m even more aware of it now that I’ve got a ten year old who tells me that with a “look” on a daily basis. I get the look and I can just read the “Whatever” in her mind. So I’m not that keen on having her (or my sassy seven year old) hearing that on a frequent basis. But it’s absolutely not a big enough complaint for me to keep them off Math Bumpies. The app is too fantastic for that and it even comes with a mute button. If you’re looking for a way to make math practice fun at your house this app will do the trick.  I’m hoping that there are multiplication and division adventures soon to come.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Rookie Labs, LLC

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

Eye Training is a collection of twenty mini-games aimed at improving your eye sight. The games focus on four different areas of vision: visual analysis, visual memory, visual coordination and the field of vision. You begin by taking a test to see how wonderful, or poor, your vision is. Mine was poor, poor, poor. Not that I was surprised, my coordination is terrible, I don’t drive well at night, the list goes on and on. Part of my problem was also due to the fact that I didn’t read the instructions as closely as I should have.  Guess I’ve got problems following directions too. Eye Training will track your progress and you can check out how much you’re improving. There’s tons of room for that in my case.

The graphics in Eye Training are well done and the mini-games will require your attention. It’s an interesting app that has the potential to also do you some good.

Price when Reviewed: $2.99

Seller: Bulkypix

Shooting Stars is a math app that just didn’t quite work for me.  In this app stars are falling from the sky. They have positive and negative numbers on them. You’ll be given a goal number and a set amount of time. To play you need to tap the stars that will add up to the goal number. Positive numbers add to this number and negative take away. The concept is good but the stars fall very quickly and they’re grouped close together, sometimes even on top of each other. There were times I’d think that I was tapping on one star only to find that by the time I made my move another star had taken it’s place. It was frustrating for me and even though I know math isn’t my strong suit I think it would be frustrating for a child as well. For me, slower and bigger stars would be a nice improvement to Shooting Stars.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Nth Fusion LLC

The classic board game Settlers of Catan just came to the iPhone! We’re big fans of the game so I was curious to see how it translated into an app. After playing it through I can tell you that if you’ve played Catan before you’ll have no trouble. If you’ve never played then it might be a bit confusing at first. Then again the original game is confusing the first few times through as well. There’s a built in tutorial that will walk you through game play. If you’ve played the xBox 360 version you will find the app to be very similar.

Catan allows for four players. They can all be “human” players but you’ll have to share the iPhone, no wifi playing unfortunately. If you choose to play against the iPhone you can select which characters you want to challenge. The app will show you their ratings in expansion, aggression and skill. A note – in “Options” you can choose to turn off your opponent’s comments. If you don’t do that you’ll be playing with constant dialogue boxes popping up. In settings you can customize the game even more. My favorite? Switching “Robber Mode” from normal to friendly. I hate that robber.

The game board is a bit smallish but you can zoom in on it which makes it easier to see. The graphics are excellent as is the music and sound effects. Not to worry though, if you’re an intense Catan player who needs total concentration you can mute those.

I found the game play to be extremely smooth and the developers have done a great job taking the board game to the iPhone. I think I’ve got a new favorite time filler for those long waits in the car during dance lessons. Hooray!

Price when Reviewed: $4.99

Seller: United Soft Media

Wriggle is getting a guest review by my seven year old daughter. We’ve both been trying it out and I was curious about what she thought of the game.

Her thoughts: “Wriggle has you trying to get worms out of their holes and you can move them forward or backward but you only have a certain amount of moves. If you get the worm out then you get a world record or something. And the moves get harder because there are other worms that get in the way. But it’s really fun".”

My thoughts: Wriggle is charming. The goal is to move a friendly little worm through his worm maze using as few moves as possible. There are eighty puzzles and once you’ve solved one you can replay it again to try and beat it in fewer moves.  Challenging but fun, fun and more fun!

If you’re looking for a puzzling, brain teasing app that will appeal to both you and your kids this is a fantastic one. The graphics are adorable but don’t be fooled. This game can be played by kids and their parents I’m sure there are plenty of adults (including me) who’ve found themselves addicted to the wriggle worms.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Conlan Rios

I don’t know what’s more adorable about Spelling Soup – the illustrations or the sweet English girls who narrate it. Listening to them made me smile! In this app you see an illustration and hear the girls say the word. Tap “flip over” and there are letters on the screen. The letters have to be dragged to the correct spot to spell the word. As you move a letter the girls will say it’s name. When the letters are all lined up correctly they will spell the word and say it once again. Then you’ll get a new illustration. After a few times the app lets you “bounce” the letters to spell the word. They show up on the screen and you tilt the iPhone left and right to make the letters bounce to their spelling spot.

This is a cute spelling app and I think the narration on Spelling Soup may be my favorite yet. The developers are also taking word requests for future editions.

Price when Reviewed: $2.99

Seller: Software Moderna HK Ltd.