Apps We Love: NxtApp 4 Kids and Kids Switcheroo

Once your pre-schooler has learned to count, how do you encourage real numeracy? How do you help kids understand that numbers aren’t just sounds but have values? That the number two can be understood as one plus one; and for that matter, the number three is two plus one, and so on? How can we encourage and support this “click” moment in our kids’ understanding? Well, there’s an app for that. (What are the chances?)

NxtApp 4 Kids by Icon, LLC asks users to name the next number in a series. Level one asks you to “add one,” so a sequence would ask for the next number in the sequence 4, 5, 6. There are single digit and double-digit numbers in the sequences. In each case, you arrive at the correct answer by adding one. Then you move onto sequences of numbers where you must subtract one to arrive at the answer.

By the time you get to level 5, users are asked to add or subtract both single and double-digit positive and negative numbers, though I think that by the time your kids can do this, they may be too old for this app. But they may be interested in using the app as a timed contest, either competing against their own “personal best” or challenging their pals to a math contest. My personal best at stage one? A respectable 19 seconds. Catch me if you can!

It’s a great learning app and—at the lower stages—very pre-school friendly with illustrations of barnyard animals that will moo and bleat and oink when you tap them. Icon LLC mentions this as if it were an important feature, but I’m figuring if your kids are ready to approach numeracy, they probably already know the sound a cow makes. Overall, the graphics are cute; the “music” is a loss leader, just a basic little snippet that plays over and over. Personally, I turned it off. What this app does well—teaches basic numeracy—it does very well. It hardly needs the bells, whistles, “music” or oinks.

If you download this app, you’ll be invited to download Icon, LLC’s DressApp. In fact, you can download this app for free whether or not you purchase NxtApp 4 Kids. It’s basically a paper doll app where you choose clothes and accessories for a model and dress her by tapping on a top, skirt, shoes, etc. You get the picture. There are many combinations to be created. I personally like the “pattern of fashion” function where users fill in a blank to complete a pattern created by pictures of the doll’s fashions. Identifying the next logical item in a pattern is an important skill. The only issue here is the graphic of the model herself. She’s sexy in the same way a Barbie doll is sexy. If you don’t have a problem with that, you’ll like this app; and the price is right.

Honorable mention goes to Kids Switcheroo by Raleigh Green. It’s a driving game of sorts, where beautifully illustrated cars sail by as users drag them across the screen. The user is invited to customize the environment’s foreground, background, and sky. You can go city, country, desert, even outer space. Developer Green wanted to create an app that embraced the Montessori philosophy that respects a child’s desire to control their environment. I find the app is a great memory challenge. My little girl knows just how many cars she has to go past to get to her favorite novelty banana car. And she knows what a monster truck is now. Phew! Another milestone achieved!

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Review Summary:
App Name: NxtApp 4 Kids
Category: Education
Age Level: 4+
Updated: February 4, 2012
Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, requires iOS 4.2 or later.
Price: $1.99
Bottom Line: Very good at what it does best, which is teaching basic numeracy.

App Name: DressApp
Category: Games
Age Level: 4+
Updated: February 4, 2012
Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, requires iOS 4.2 or later.
Price: Free
Bottom Line: Make sure you’re comfortable with the “Barbie doll” sexiness level.

App Name: Kids Switcheroo
Category: Games
Age Level: 4+
Updated: December 3, 2011
Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, requires iOS 3.2 or later.
Price: $1.99
Bottom Line: More fun than educational, but fun has its place, too.