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By Courtney Schley This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. We spent over 25 hours researching and testing more than 35 educational and learning apps recommended by educators, experts, parents, and kids. We also studied research from child developmental psychologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics about children's app use and the pedagogical principles for creating learning apps. If your family has a tablet and you want it to be more than a game-playing and video-watching device, or if you're trying to find apps for your smartphone that will do more than keep your kids occupied in a pinch, we have some great suggestions.
Daily iPad App: Questimate! lets you estimate the answer to wacky questions
Questimate! from Motion Math is an enjoyable estimation game in which you create off-the-wall questions and try to estimate their answers. It's a challenge you can play alone or against others in either pass-n-play mode or Gamecenter mode. As its name implies, Questimate! is based on quests that are comprised of a series of questions. You are given three lives, which allows you to make three mistakes as you progress along a quest. It's a game of estimates so you don't have to be perfect, but you do have to answer most of the questions in a quest reasonably well if you want to win. The app includes a free intro quest, with additional quests available via an in-app purchase of coins. When you start a new game, you are prompted to build a question by combining several phrases like "How many microwave ovens", "would be as long as" and "a household ladder?" Once you've formed your question, you then must estimate the answer on a number line. The app will score your answer based on how close your estimate is to the actual answer. The more accurate your answer, the more points you will earn. Points will net you hints and power-ups, which you can redeem when you need help answering a hard question. If your answer is way off, you will lose one life. The goal of the game is to finish each quest before you lose all three of your lives, so you want to estimate your answer with accuracy. I let my 12-year-old son and my 11-year-old daughter play Questimate!, and the reviews were mixed. My son is a visual learner and spatially aware, while my daughter is not. She just guessed at the answers (and was usually way off), while my son was walking around the kitchen sizing up the microwave to see how many he could fit on our ladder. He loved the game and its offbeat questions, while my daughter was ambivalent about the questions, but took delight in how far off her estimates were. Questimate! is a barrel of fun for older children and young-at-heart adults who enjoy comparing items and making estimates. It is available for free from the iOS App Store, though it does require an in-app purchase of coins to unlock levels.
Educational app series Motion Math reaches one million download milestone
We often hear about games reaching one million downloads, but, today, educational app Motion Math announced it has reached this notable milestone, too. Motion Math develops four math-oriented titles for the iPad and the iPhone including its self-titled debut, Motion Math. All four titles (Motion Math, Motion Math Zoom, Motion Math: Hungry Fish and Motion Math:Wings) contributed to this million downloads milestone. Interest is growing in educational apps, and this is evident in Motion Math's download stats. In its press release announcing its one million downloads, the company said half of these downloads have come in the last four months. And this is only the beginning -- as more schools adopt iPads, the download tally for Motion Math and other apps in the educational category is bound to increase. Besides its one million downloads, Motion Math also used this occasion to announce its next app, Motion Math: Hungry Guppy. This title is Motion Math's first app aimed at pre-schoolers and is expected to land in the iOS App Store this summer. [Via Motion Math] Show full PR text Motion Math Reaches One Million iOS App Downloads Fun Math App Company Announces New Preschool Adding Game for Kids San Francisco (June 13, 2012) -- Motion Math, the pioneer of fun, interactive mobile math games, has surpassed more than one million downloads of its four award-winning titles, Motion Math HD (fraction estimation), Motion Math Zoom (number line and place value), Motion Math: Hungry Fish (arithmetic) and Motion Math: Wings (multiplication). Half of those downloads have come in the last four months and all four apps have reached Top 10 or Top 5 recognition in Apple's App Store Education Category. Motion Math's fraction game was the subject of the first ever experiment on an iPad app, with research showing a 15% improvement in fractions estimation and a 10% improvement in math attitudes. Their latest game, Motion Math: Wings, features six different visual forms of multiplication, helping students build their understanding of the concept. Recognizing the importance of fundamental math skills for children's success, parents and teachers have downloaded one million Motion Math games, turning screen time into learning time. To address the needs of families with children as young as two, the company today also announced its first game for preschoolers, Motion Math: Hungry Guppy, the prequel to Motion Math: Hungry Fish. "We're excited that Motion Math can meet the learning needs of families with young children," said Gabriel Adauto, Motion Math co-founder. "By starting with dot visuals and slowly introducing numbers, Hungry Guppy helps preschoolers build an intuitive sense for addition." In the Top 5 game Motion Math: Hungry Fish, players find the many ways to create a specific sum, using the touchscreen to pinch two numbers together and instantly add them. Motion Math: Hungry Guppy has the same engaging gameplay, but uses a mix of dots and numbers to allow kids as young as two to learn their numbers and basic addition. The Motion Math: Hungry Guppy math game will be available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch later this summer. Both Motion Math: Wings (http://bit.ly/mmwings) and Motion Math: Hungry Fish (http://bit.ly/hungryfish) are available now as free downloads on the App Store. Motion Math creates fun learning games that let kids play with numbers. The company's fractions app, conceived at the Stanford School of Education won a Serious Play Gold Medal. A rigorous efficacy study - the first done on an iPad educational app - found the game improved test scores 15% and attitudes towards fractions by 10%. Subsequent games - Motion Math Zoom, Motion Math: Hungry Fish, and Motion Math: Wings – have received rave reviews, promotion by Apple, and #5 rankings in the Education category. Motion Math is backed by a world-class group of angel investors, including Mitch Kapor, Dave McClure, and Mike Wood (the founder of LeapFrog), and has been featured in TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Wired, WSJ, Forbes, PBS NewsHour, Fast Company and the NYT. Most importantly: kids, parents, and teachers love Motion Math games. To learn more, visit http://www.motionmathgames.com.
