Mathical Vol.1

Posted by Sarah Reidy on February 29th, 2012

Mathical, developed by StusApps, is a collection of five math games geared toward older elementary school children. With input from primary school teachers, Mathical was created to help children practice their math facts, such as addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, fractions and decimals.

The five games included in this app can be customized to suit your child’s learning level, as you can choose the numbers that you want included (up to 20) as well as the difficulty (1 through 9). These games include:

Missing Number Skydiving: Players must guide the skydiver to targets that display the correct answer to addition and subtraction equations. My daughter (age 10) had no problem with the game play in this game and although she found it boring, it is a good practice tool that requires quick mental calculations.

Fraction Reaction: Players must identify the correct fractions to complete the whole shape and guide the fraction balls to their correct location. Although a good concept, both my daughter and I found the game play to be difficult as we had trouble maneuvering the fraction balls.

Orderly Birds: Players must move chicks sitting on a branch by swiping them with a finger, until the correct number order is formed. I like this game very much, as it is possible to set the difficulty to a level that is suitable for younger children (ordering whole numbers) as well as older children (ordering decimals).

Divider Slider: Players must tap an arrow to move their monster along a branch indicating the correct answer to division facts. This game caught my daughter’s attention as players can choose the monster icon they wish to play with and she thought they were cute. The only issue with this game is that your child is given a certain amount of time to select the right answer and move his or her monster, and this time gets progressively shorter! At times it is nearly impossible to get the monster to the correct position before time runs out. This can be frustrating for the kids who are playing, especially if math isn’t one of their preferred activities.

Slime Climb Multiples: Players must move their slime monster up the wall, popping bubbles that contain the correct number multiples. This is another game that both my kids (10 and 7) were interested in, as they found the graphics to be more interesting. However, the game play itself was very difficult. We discovered that even if your child locates the right answer, controlling the slime monster itself can be tricky and frustrating.

What we liked: We liked the fact that there are five games to choose from and that each one focuses on a different skill and we also liked that the graphics and game play is varied from game to game.

What we didn’t like: My daughter did not like the fact that there is no point system or other kind of reward for successfully completing rounds. This made the games seem repetitive and she lost interest quickly. As the name “Mathical” implies that there might be some magical or mythical elements to the game, this app could have been made more interesting if children could earn new monsters and other “magical” characters as they progress.

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