What We Liked:
I think that Adding Apples is an excellent showcase of the types of hands-on learning experiences that touch-enabled devices are capable of creating. The direct correspondence between numbers and touchable apples is incredibly effective. Combined with the flexible, open design of the app, this transforms Adding Apples not only into a fun game for children to play that reinforces their math skills, but also into something that parents can sit down with their children and actually use to teach addition and counting. There are a many, many math lessons that can be pulled out of this app when used intentionally as a teaching aid.
My girls really enjoy Adding Apples. My five-year-old carefully touches and wraps each apple to count up and solve the addition problem she has created, while my eight-year-old blasts through the problems using all of the automated buttons to earn her coins more quickly. The fact that there are no time limits makes the entire experience low-stress and filled with relaxed exploration.
I was surprised to find that my younger girl could interact with Adding Apples for so long on her own. We haven’t even done addition yet together, but this app makes the concept so physical, so concrete, that it’s nearly impossible not to understand what is going on with each math problem. Our family teaches math on a mastery-basis, allowing plenty of time for our children to master one operation before moving to another, so I like that Adding Apples is focused on only one operation (addition), and provides lots of practice to master the basics conceptually, adding from 1-9.
The art in Adding Apples is fantastic – great 3D apples, good physics for individual manipulation of the apples, comical worm; even the music is cute – lively but not jarring or annoying.
What We Didn’t Like:
I would love it if multiple users for the trophies and accuracy statistics. I have a couple of girls who both want to use the app but they have to share stats unless I want to reset between each girl (and then they don’t get trophies!)
Overall:
Adding Apples is an incredibly valuable hands-on learning tool for children who aren’t yet ready to move onto abstract addition and still need objects to count up with. The pressure-free learning environment is a perfect way to build confidence in young children and those who struggle with math.
Disclosure: I received a promo code of this app to review.
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