Bottom line: Addition Blocks for Education is a highly customizable addition drills game created by a middle school teacher. It won the PBS Kids Prize in 2012 at the STEM Video Game Challenge and is also helping me add without using my fingers. Free version available if you don't mind in-app purchases.
If you would like to download Addition Blocks for Education (iPad/iPhone, $2.99), please use this handy dandy link and show Smart Apps For Kids some love:
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A free version is available, but it includes in-app purchases. There is also a "pro" version that includes in-app purchases, so use our handy download link to be sure you're getting the version with no IAPs.
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I hate math. I know I use it every day and I should pretend that I like it, but I don’t. I’m pretty bad at
the simplest math, too — addition. At 41 years old I still use my fingers to solve simple problems and dream a dream of my children having quicker solving skills than I have. Homework has always been fun as my kids work in the kitchen and say things like, “Mom, what does six plus seven equal?” and I buy time to count my fingers by saying, “Isn’t the point of the homework for you to figure this out on your own? You tell me and I will tell you if you are correct.” If my kids only knew I was a sham.
Addition Blocks for Education takes some of the hassle out of teaching something I am not confident about and makes it engaging for my children. It’s an addition drills game set up similarly to Candy Crush only without the candy or having to send out a bajillion requests for extra lives. OK, fine, it’s not just like Candy Crush, except that both require you to make squares disappear. Addition Blocks presents a 6x6 square filled with “digit blocks” that must be added accordingly to equal the target sum blocks that are dropped. If a correct sum is chosen, the blocks disappear and a new target sum block is dropped and play continues until the board is cleared.
The app has a good chunk of custom settings; speed, difficulty, mode, sound and multipliers. The settings are a welcome feature because no two students are exactly alike when it comes to addition drills. For instance, my 7-year-old son loves a challenge, but hates speed, so we set him up in slow practice mode for sums up to 20 so that he could be challenged, but not pressured, and he had time to breathe between puzzles. My 9-year-old daughter preferred a fast-paced game, so we chose fast and normal play which gave her no breaks between puzzles. When my son had completed several rounds he told me, “That was a fun game, Mom,” which prompted me to try my hand at it a little more than simple testing. I can now pick out numbers to equal thirteen without my fingers (most of the time).
The only recommendation I can offer to make this app just a bit better would be to stop the tutorial
from autoplaying and have it as a simple swipe when you are ready for the next page. As it is now, if you miss a sentence and go back to reread, you have to wait for the directions to cycle through again. Some people like me need a little extra time reading math language. Don’t judge me.
Overall, the app is solidly made and a great tool to have in the shed while trying to reinforce a comfort with fast addition.
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Cynthia is really grateful to have toes. They simplify things a lot when it comes to math involving sums greater than 10. SmartAppsForKids.com was paid a priority review fee to complete this review in an expedited manner.
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