Shiny Circus
© 2014 Shiny Things
As a former elementary teacher, I love to find apps like this one. While the story is less than thrilling (three friends are going to a circus), the four innovative activities do an excellent job connecting a child's fingers to some early math ideas. In the story, the Shiny Circus has come to town and Charlie, Alice and Ralph (three animals) are going to the show. When Charlie helps the clowns prepare for their performance, he finds himself in the spotlight and needs your help. You explore measurement by making comparisons of length, width and area, and compare the measurable attributes of objects, including length, height, width and quantity. An "Angry Birds" type of sling-shot game lets you play with velocity and trajectory, and a balancing game lets you play with equality. Correct answers earn stickers. Need to know: this isn't the most entertaining app we've reviewed, but it provides an excellent early math experience. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYs5rPTXyVU.
$1.99, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch (iOS 7.0 or later)
Teaches: math, logic, balancing equations, seriation, patterns
CTR Rating: 92%