Pet Bingo
© 2013 Duck Duck Moose Inc.
Math flashcards can take many forms, so why not a pet store Bingo game? Featuring good child tracking and progress reporting but limited design, Pet Bingo was created specifically to make math drill more interesting, by embedding the correct answers in a bingo board, where you can win goodies for your pets. After you sign in, you get your own pet store, with four math operations displayed (+ -, x and ÷), each with three levels (easy, medium and hard). You then see a 5 x 5 Bingo board along with a math problem. If you don't know the answer, you can use a hint option, although the hints consist of a static slide and could do more to enhance the mathematics behind the numerals. The idea is to fill in the board, by answering the math problems as quickly as possible. Complete rows are rewarded with new pets and healthy pet snacks; and the pets accumulate and interact in your pet store. The "do math or my pet goes hungry" idea is certainly motivating, and it keeps you on your toes answering math questions. But there's not much variety in the pet selection (they seem more similar than different), and while you can toggle on and off the music from the main menu, you can't control the pet sounds, which become repetitive and all sound the same. The visual hint system is a good in concept, but it's not dynamic, and it could do more to help children actively explore the concepts behind the equation. Finally, we wanted to be able to use multi-touch to select two identical bingo squares (that show the same answer) at the same time. None of these are deal breakers -- you still have a solid Math Bingo game that keeps records and offers a variety of math problems. There's no shortage of Math Bingo apps (see, for example Math Bingo at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/math-bingo/id371338715?mt=8). This one could be better, but it will work for early elementary (K-4) age children.
iPad, iPhone
Teaches: math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)
CTR Rating: 82%