# TouchCounts — Tangible Arithmetic > Interactive math exploration app for children to learn counting, addition, and subtraction. (iPhone/iPad app by Nathalie Sinclair.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/touchcounts/id897302197 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Nathalie Sinclair](https://appshunter.io/developer/897302200) - Category: Education - Price: Free - Rating: 4.40/5 from 9 App Store ratings · 12 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 8.0 · 38 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2014-07-20 - Data updated: 2026-06-10 - Monetization: free - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/touchcounts/id897302197/reviews.md ## What is TouchCounts? TouchCounts lets children use their fingers, eyes and ears to learn to count, add and subtract. By tapping and swiping and by using specially-designed gestures for adding and subtracting, children create and manipulate their own numbers, developing a stronger number sense as they explore the mathematical foundations of ordinality, cardinality, and arithmetic. As children begin to learn how to count with their fingers, TouchCounts is the perfect environment to solidify that learning and help them generalize beyond their fingers, “going past ten” into the endless world of larger values. TouchCounts allows children to focus on both ordered and operational views of numbers, inviting them to develop their number sense by creating and exploring coordinated number sequences tactilely, visually, symbolically and verbally. In addition, learners can explore how numeric quantities can be composed from–and decomposed into–other, smaller quantities. Neither a repetitive drill-and-practice worksheet nor an rigid "level-driven" game, TouchCounts is a mathematics exploration environment designed to allow students to discover, pose and examine their own questions and understandings. Sample activities on the TouchCounts website show parents and teachers how TouchCounts can support learners' conceptual understanding of: - number naming - counting and skip-counting - ordinality and cardinality - even and odd numbers - less-than, greater-than and equal-to relationships - subitization - addition, subtraction, and the foundations of division and multiplication. Based on contemporary research understandings of how children learn mathematics, and developed by the Tangible Mathematics Learning Project in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University, TouchCounts is intended for use in school, pre-school and at home; and with small groups, with 1:1 pairings of a learner and a parent or teacher, or individually. ## Key features - Interactive counting and arithmetic - Finger gesture-based learning - Develops number sense - Explores ordinality and cardinality - Supports addition and subtraction - Foundations for division and multiplication ## Recent user reviews (10 of 12) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/touchcounts/id897302197/reviews.md ### 5/5 — A delight to rediscover *2016-07-08, version 1.0* I had forgotten this little gem of a program, and only recently rediscovered it on my system. Sometimes we forget the genius in simplicity. Children can learn simple and sophisticated mathematical concepts through experimentation and generalization, both guided and exploratory. A far better approach to “the basics” than returning to the good old days of worksheets and speed tests. ### 4/5 — Great *2016-03-11, version 1.0* Great app, it's easy to use and fun! ### 2/5 — Confusing *2014-11-30, version 1.0* Explanation on how to play is a problem. I don't see any tutorial on how to use this app. ### 5/5 — A Novel and Compelling Approach to Developing Number Sense *2014-08-23* It's rare to find a math app that leverages the multitouch capabilities of the iPad in a pedagogically meaningful way, but TouchCounts succeeds brilliantly in creating a tactile environment for young children to explore counting, addition, and subtraction. The premise is simple: Each finger tap of the iPad's screen increases the count by one, with children receiving immediate visual feedback (the appearance of the numbers 1, 2, 3, ...) along with accompanying audio (the numbers read aloud). Children soon discover that there's no need to limit their counting to ones. Tapping eight fingers simultaneously, for example, leapfrogs the count by 8, and repeated taps of 8 generate the skip-counting sequence 8,16, 24, 32... This is just one example of how fundamental mathematical concepts arise naturally and concretely through children's play with the app. A second mode of the app operates similarly, but now children can push numbers together to add them and split numbers apart with their fingers to subtract. As a mathematics educator jaded by the flood of mediocre math apps, I was delighted by the novelty of this approach and believe that TouchCounts has tremendous potential for helping children develop number sense. ### 5/5 — Fantastic *2014-08-14, version 1.0* An excellent app for teaching and reinforcing early mathematics concepts. I especially love the operations portion that allows children to see numbers within numbers. Great for parents, too. Wish I had it when my children were little! ### 5/5 — A curious child can learn LOTS here *2014-08-11, version 1.0* This elegant-looking, simple app offers more than appears at first glance. This app gives a physical meaning/experience to numbers and operations, much as you would learn using real blocks or manipulatives. I would use it to teach more than just counting, addition, and subtraction. Introduce or learn multiplication using the addition function: create 5 groups of 8 circles. Then count by 8s to learn multiples of 8, and multiplication by 8. Similarly with division: create a group of 24 circles, and then "pull out" 6 groups of 4. Or even introduce fractions: create a group of 14 and then "pull out" 4s. You get 3 AND A HALF groups. A curious child, or an advanced child, or even a child who was prodded as above, could learn a lot in this simple, fun environment. ### 5/5 — play and practice without drill… finally! *2014-08-10, version 1.0* I love how children get to actually make their own numbers, and then decide what to do with them! Who knew that counting to 100 could be so fun? ### 5/5 — Awesome app! *2014-08-09, version 1.0* Love this app! Excellent for developing number sense in young children. I especially like the subtraction feature which allows for breaking up numbers in a variety of ways. ### 5/5 — An Excellent resource especially for little ones. *2014-08-07, version 1.0* My Daughter was two when she started using Touch Counts. It has been wonderful seeing her understanding of counting develop as she figured out how to use the program. I love the feature that allows you to add and separate dots. I like that the different groups of dots remain different colours when added together so that a child can see that there are groups of numbers in bigger numbers. I believe that because there is a voice counting numbers that my daughter as quickly expanded her numerical vocabulary. I will be recommending this app to all of my friends. I am so glad it is now available in the App store. I can't wait to see what is next. ### 5/5 — Un app super *2014-08-07, version 1.0* Très bien! Encourage l'enfant à manipuler les nombres d'une façon ludique. ## Frequently asked questions about TouchCounts ### What age is TouchCounts recommended for? TouchCounts is recommended for children aged 4 and up. The app's design and interactive features are tailored to support early learners in developing foundational mathematical understanding. ### What devices does TouchCounts support? TouchCounts is currently supported on iPads. This allows for a large, touch-friendly interface ideal for young learners to interact with the mathematical concepts presented. ### How does TouchCounts teach math concepts? TouchCounts uses tactile, visual, and verbal methods, including finger gestures for adding and subtracting. This approach helps children build a strong number sense by exploring mathematical foundations like ordinality and cardinality. ### Does TouchCounts offer a trial period? TouchCounts is a free application, so there is no trial period required. Users can download and use the full functionality of the app without any cost. ### How often is TouchCounts updated? The latest version of TouchCounts is 2.0, which was last updated on July 9, 2019. While updates may not be frequent, the app provides a stable learning environment. ### What specific math skills can children learn with TouchCounts? Children can learn number naming, counting, skip-counting, ordinality, cardinality, even and odd numbers, less-than/greater-than/equal-to relationships, subitization, and the foundations of addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. ### Is TouchCounts a game or a learning environment? TouchCounts is designed as a mathematics exploration environment rather than a repetitive drill-and-practice worksheet or a rigid level-driven game. It encourages students to discover and examine their own mathematical questions and understandings. ### Does TouchCounts have ads? No, TouchCounts does not contain advertisements. The app is completely free and ad-free, providing an uninterrupted learning experience for children. ## Version history (last 2 releases) ### 2.0 — 2019-07-09 TouchCounts 2.0:  * The Operations World now supports equipartioning (introduction to division). Drag apart any number with multiple fingers to split it into multiple equal-sized parts. * Settings now supports Image Capture and White Background, for better documentation and research purposes * TouchCounts can now speak German (available in Settings) ### 1.0 — 2014-07-15 No release notes. ## Apps similar to TouchCounts | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [MoneyPrep: Kids Learning Games](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/moneyprep-kids-learning-games/id1575939249) | 4.2 (31) | Free | Education | | [Tayasui Sketches School](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tayasui-sketches-school/id1354087061) | 4.6 (8,272) | Free | Education | | [MyUAlberta](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/myualberta/id380096985) | 4.0 (5) | Free | Education | | [Lee Paso a Paso Beto](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lee-paso-a-paso-beto/id1504578219) | 4.1 (8) | Free | Education | | [Learning German Mumbro Zinell](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/learning-german-mumbro-zinell/id1319915840) | 3.0 (2) | Free | Education | | [Pi Le Fuchs](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pi-le-fuchs/id1549058932) | — | Free | Education | ## More apps by Nathalie Sinclair - [TouchTimes](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/touchtimes/id1469862750) All apps by Nathalie Sinclair: https://appshunter.io/developer/897302200 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*