Land of Venn, The: Geometric Defense
© 2014 iMagine Machine
Most children don't encounter geometric terms like "isosceles triangle" or "open shape" until they open a math textbook. This app lets them playfully encounter these types of geometric concepts by way of an addicting, leveled tower defense game where you trace the shapes with your finger in order to score points and kill approaching bad guys. Your goal is to defend a helpless tomato as bad creatures approach from all sides. At the easy levels the creatures are slow and can be destroyed by "points" or "straight lines." Later levels include faster, meaner creatures and more sophisticated geometric shapes which are labeled instantly when you make them. As a result, you complete hundreds of geometric worksheet types of problems in a fun context. Weaknesses include some quirks with the leveling. The first level starts out extremely easily, but you aren't allowed to clear the first set of ten levels unless you achieve perfect scores on all the games; a process that can take a few hours. While the challenge increases geometrically (pun intended) the educational challenge moves at a slower pace. Also we felt that the narration was less-than-professional, and the screens are cluttered. While asking a child to deal with distractions could actually have some pedagogical value, ideally a teacher or parent could toggle these excessive illustrations on/off. These weaknesses are not deal breakers ... all in all this game succeeds in it's mission to embed geometric facts in a game. The bottom line? Clearly a lot of thought went into this app. Just be on hand to help children during the final levels of the first set of problems.
$4.99, iPad, iPhone
Teaches: math, geometry (2 dimensional shapes), logic, spatial relations, temporal relations
CTR Rating: 86%