But I’d still like them to get a little extra practice, so I was over the moon when I found out that a company just down the road from us at Screen Time Labs built an app that encouraged extra Maths practice and also made it fun!
DoodleMaths was founded by experienced teachers Nicola Chilman and Tom Minor, and aims to bring an individualised learning program to kids by harnessing the power of technology. The app is available on Android and Apple and is optimised for UK and US Maths curriculums. Tom and Nicola are also very nice people too, which helps.
So a few weeks back I prised the tablets off the kids (with the help of the Screen Time app’s Pause button) and installed DoodleMaths. There were a few simple setup screens to go through that lets the app know where your child is in their Maths education, then there are a number of fun questions that they go through during which the app learns your child’s strengths and weaknesses. After that, DoodleMaths then works out an individualised program of Maths questions that adapt as your child improves.
Having left them to it for a while I was surprised to find they were still at it half an hour later! I had fully expected them to answer a few questions then turn to something else. But they were actually “playing” DoodleMaths just like any other game on their tablet (they were also getting a little competitive seeing who could earn the most DoodleStars).
Since then we’ve set up a task in Screen Time to encourage them to earn a number of DoodleStars before they can spend time on other apps. We can check their progress through the DoodleMaths website and award them more Screen Time when we see that they have earnt their DoodleStars. It’s working really well for us, and it’s great to know that they’re getting more Maths practice each day, and also learning that Maths can be fun.
Give it a try, and let me know what you think below.
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