My MathBox 1 vs The Shape Factory

MatheKiste – Learning Math with Joy for Elementary & Preschool (German & English) Developed by an experienced primary school teacher with over 20 years of experience. MatheKiste is a lovingly designed, bilingual learning app for children aged 5 and up. It was specially developed for preschool and first grade, and is ideal for learning math in early elementary school – whether for school entry, reinforcement, or extra practice at home. Learning goals of the app: • Learn to calculate with joy • Understand and compare numbers • Orientation in the number range up to 20 • Build number sense (developing calculation strategies) Content of MatheKiste – Math app for children: Over 15 task formats across 4 main areas: • Writing and sorting numbers • Discovering numbers • Calculating with friends • Counting and comparing The app places special emphasis on a playful and sustainable introduction to the world of numbers. Instead of rushing through calculations, children learn to recognize, write, compare, and place numbers in the number range. This builds essential math foundations in a joyful and focused way. Bilingual – German & English The app is fully usable in German or English – ideal for multilingual families, bilingual classrooms, or early language learning. Motivation through a reward system: For every 15 correctly solved tasks, a new sticker is unlocked – encouraging progress and making math fun! Child-friendly & safe – 100% ad-free: • No ads • No in-app purchases • No login, no tracking • Fully usable offline • All content includes audio support (also available offline) Tip for voice output (offline use): On iPad > Accessibility > Spoken Content, we recommend activating the voice "Petra (Enhanced)" for the best reading quality. For use in the classroom & homeschooling: The app is ideal for use in class – e.g. during individual work, weekly plans, or support lessons. We welcome your feedback! MatheKiste is actively being developed. I welcome suggestions, feedback, and educational ideas via the support email.

Shape Factory is an educational learning environment for primary school children (ages 7–10) that promotes algorithmic thinking, problem-solving, and spatial reasoning through an engaging factory simulation. Designed by Prof. Dr. Günter Krauthausen and Jun.-Prof. Dr. Christian Urff, the app combines educational expertise with child-friendly design. In a virtual factory, children configure machines that transform colored geometric workpieces step by step: drawing lines, punching holes, and rotating shapes. Through visual representation and immediate feedback, children directly experience how their decisions affect the outcome. FIVE GAME MODES FOR DIVERSE LEARNING • Experiment – Freely explore machines and their effects through discovery learning • Predict – Mentally predict the result of a production line, then verify • Make – Design production lines to create ordered workpieces and find different solutions • Optimize – Identify redundant machines and achieve the same result more efficiently • Repair – Analyze, diagnose, and fix faulty production lines EDUCATIONAL FEATURES • Four difficulty levels per mode with optional expert mode • Adaptive difficulty that automatically adjusts to the learner's level • Warehouse for saving, comparing, and sorting production lines • QR code exchange for sharing configurations between devices • Add notes to saved configurations • PDF export and photo saving of production lines COMPREHENSIVE TEACHER SETTINGS • Show or hide individual game modes to match the classroom situation • Control difficulty levels and adaptive adjustment • Individually configure counters, warehouse, and QR code features • Enable or disable automatic task progression • Built-in information about task formats and classroom use LEARNING GOALS The app fosters algorithmic thinking, spatial reasoning (mental rotation, orientation, symmetry), problem-solving skills, logical reasoning, optimization thinking, and systematic approaches. It is ideal for mathematics, science, and computer science education. TEACHING GUIDE A comprehensive didactic guide with lesson scenarios, research questions, differentiation tips, and methodological recommendations is available free of charge at www.urff.app/formen-fabrik. PRIVACY & SAFETY • No ads • No tracking • No in-app purchases • No internet connection required • No registration needed • All data stays on the device Shape Factory – built for children, designed for the classroom.