Funexpected Math App Review

 With my wide age gaps, we've been doing early education activities for about 12 years now. In that time I have always sought out recommendations for great educational apps that my kids actually like using. We tried many and really liked several. When I was given the opportunity for a free trial of a new one, Funexpected, I jumped at it!

Now, while I was given the free trial of Funexpected, I was not asked to write a review. I just liked it so much, I felt compelled to write one. Therefore, my opinions here are entirely my own.

The app is geared towards kids ages 3-7. We have been using it with my 4 year old for a couple of weeks now. He can be pretty picky about games and apps (there's another pretty prominent math app that he does not care for at all), but he took to this one right away. In fact, I had it open trying to take some pictures for this post and he came up and stole the iPad from me so he could play. He loves world geography, so it helps that the main menu area is a globe and he goes to various "countries" to play the different games.

First and foremost, what struck me about Funexpected is the variety of both skills and games. Even some of our favorite math games seem to focus on one type of skill, whereas Funexpected tackles math and number sense with a variety of games broken into the following categories:

 Number Sense, Geometry, Algorithms and Logic

Each category has multiple games, so even in a couple of weeks of play, it still feels fresh to him. Because I tend to decide purchases based on examples, I have included pictures of several of the games. I like that a lot of the skills are more abstract than straight counting, adding, etc. to give him a more rounded math experience.

He really likes this flower geometry game that involves stacking shapes in the correct order and orientation to match the picture.

This game has him selecting grids of snowballs to reach a target number, teaching him multiplication without him knowing that is what he's doing.

While my 4 year old doesn't love this game, probably because the iPad is a touch heavy for him, my older son and I think it is neat. On the left is a 2D shape and the right has an augmented reality 3D shape. You have to "walk around" the 3D shape manipulating your device until the pictures match. What a great game for visual spatial skills! Maybe someday they will let you choose whether to use the augmented reality or manipulate it on the screen.

This is the algorithm game he likes the best. You have a little ninja that you have to code to get to the cat. The levels get harder, adding in tasks or obstacles.

This is a little balancing game, where you have to get both sides of the iceberg to equal one another. It started with even numbers, but then progressed to odd numbers where you have to put one bird in a nest.

The parents portal has information broken down into the various categories. You can see how many questions they have tried, how fast they are and what their level is. Because the app is adaptive, it adjusts the difficulty level as the child plays and can be different for the different categories.

The results can also be broken down even more specifically to each module.

In addition to the math, Funexpected has also included bonus content, like a special event for Hanami, the Japanese holiday of cherry blossom viewing. My son got to learn about sakura trees and locations in Japan. He enjoyed it enough to want to do it again even after he had completed the challenge.

One downside is that like with any game, it cannot control what the child chooses to do, so not every skill will be targeted equally. My son tends to gravitate towards the games that are easier for him and not play the more challenging games as often. He spends the most time than I think he should on counting games, which is where he needs the least amount of enrichment. None of this is the app's fault. In fact, some of the modules that show up when he first signs on seem to encourage him to work on a variety of games.

Funexpected is a subscription rather than a onetime purchase and seems to be $35 for 6 months. While I prefer the one and done purchases, I will say, I feel this is a good price compared to some of the other math subscriptions we have tried. It also feels more "worth it" because they seem to keep updating and adding new content, which you would not get with a one time purchase. As of right now, I plan to renew. I am, however, curious to see how quickly he progresses through the levels. Since it says it is geared towards ages 3-7 and he's doing 1st grade level math workbooks, I'm not sure if and when he will max it out. On the other hand, since a lot of the skills are more abstract, it may last a lot longer than an app focusing on adding and subtracting. I will definitely renew when baby girl is old enough to use it.

Mommy Health Guidebook

 

 Way back when I was pregnant, I heard about the book If Your Kid Eats this Book, Everything Will Still be Okay: How to Know if Your Child's Injury or Illness is Really an Emergency.  It is a book written by an emergency room doctor and goes through various injuries and illnesses, how to treat them, and when you need to call the doctor or go to the hospital.  I bought it, read it cover to cover, and then pretty much forgot about it.  During Xander's first year, he really didn't have too many illnesses or injuries, so I only checked it a couple of times.

Last night, however, I was SO thankful I had read the book.  I got home from class around 10 and my dad said Xander had a bit of congestion so to go listen to him (we are possibly facing a second surgery for ear tubes and adenoid removal, so congestion is a big deal around here).  Anyway, I guess Mommy getting home was the cue he had been waiting for because as soon as I walked into the room he woke up with a horrible "barky" croup cough.  He started this awful coughing fit that scared the crap out of me.  My first instinct was to put him in a steamy bathroom, which I did for about a minute.  Then I remembered reading that taking kids into the cool air can calm the coughing, which is why many kids with croup get better on the drive to the hospital.  I wrapped him in a blanket and took him outside to "look at the stars."  He immediately stopped coughing and could actually breathe again!  It by no means fixed his cough completely, but it did stop the big fit he was having so that I could calm and soothe him.  I pulled out my book and reread the whole section on the croup.  I was able to go to bed confident that I was doing what was best for him, but also knowing the warning signs for needing to take him to the hospital.  It may not sound like much, but late at night with a sick baby, that piece of mind can be priceless.

Anyway, I was very glad to have run across the book and thought I would share just to make a few other mommies aware of its existence.  Libraries might have it, and it is written in an easy, conversational manner, with humor thrown in.  I think this book may be one of my go to gifts for new moms and baby showers!

Sparkabilities

As most of you who have followed the blog for a while know, I am incredibly picky about Xander's movies. I do not like the idea of too much screen time for any age, but particularly for very young toddlers.  Xander gets a maximum of two baby learning DVDs a day, which works out to about 45 minutes of tv.  A lot of days, he doesn't even watch that (although he gets more if he is sick). Because I limit it, I want to make sure we make the most of the time he does get.  What's interesting, is Xander has become even more picky than I am!  He will only watch certain movies, and cries and complains if I put in something he deems unacceptable.  Almost all cartoons are out, as are any children's television shows.  Anyway, a few months ago I was looking for something to show him when he ran out of Your Child Can Read discs and someone from the BrillKids Forum suggested Sparkabilities.

I have to admit, when I first heard of Sparkabilities, I was not too sure.  It seemed a little to simple for Xander, since he has been learning about special quadrilaterals on his Your Baby Can Discover movies.  Then I did a little bit more reading and learned that Sparkabilities is based on neuroscience and infant development research.  They teach things like shapes, vocabulary, emotions, focus, attention and processing information efficiently (in addition to the more traditional things like colors, shapes, numbers, sizes, emotions, etc.).  The more I read, the more it sounded like it lined up with a lot of the right brain education information I have been reading.  They even have segments that are very similar to the right brain eye tracking activities, only better because of strategic backgrounds.  I decided to show him the YouTube videos and see what he thought (there are three segments available on YouTube).  Talk about love at first sight!  He LOVED them.  He called them BeeBees (Sparkabilities may be a bit hard to say) and asked for them any time we were around a computer.  I had trouble limiting him to just one viewing.

I let him watch one or two of the segments a day for a few weeks.  What really blew me away was that during that time frame, I noticed a huge improvement in Xander's speech.  Over the winter he had gone 2-3 months with chronic ear infections which resulted in hearing loss.  His hearing came back after surgery, but I felt like he lost that time to work on his pronunciation.  (In fact, the first few days after surgery, he kept making all sorts of weird sounds, and you could tell that he was having fun listening to himself.)  Anyway, I noticed that after he had been watching the videos for a while, he really started trying to say a lot more, both words and sounds.  I also noticed that during that time a few of our "school" activities really seemed to click for him.

After mentioning this to my mom, she was wonderful enough to pay to buy three of the videos for Xander (we have Babies 1, Toddler 1, and Toddler 2.  I will definitely adding Babies 1 to our collection if I ever get to have another child).  We have had them for about a month and a half now, and I am SO happy with them.  He watches them a few times a week and still likes them a lot and will still ask for his BeeBees.  He does get annoyed if I happen to show a certain one too many days in a row.  In that time he has come even farther in speech.  I am still seeing him trying much harder to say a wider variety of words and sounds.  How much is actually from the videos, I am not sure.  He also seems to be learning to read new words faster than before, although it could be that I can just tell he can read more words because he is better at communicating.  Maybe the big improvements just happened at the same time by coincidence.  Regardless, he loves the videos and I love the educational content.  I also like being able to give him some extra right brain exposure, because I know I don't do nearly as much as I would like.

Note: I am not writing for Sparkabilities or getting anything out of this post (unless, of course, you decide to purchase Sparkabilities through my Amazon Associates link instead of through their website.  However, be sure to watch their website because they seem to have promo codes frequently).  I just wanted to share our experience in case anyone else was looking for DVDs for their little ones.  I know I always like to hear real moms' experiences of products.

Kid Start Spanish Review

Update:  Reading Amigo has changed their name to Kid Start Spanish, so I updated the review accordingly.  You can check out their facebook page here. Also, my son, who has become SUPER picky about movies and videos, still enjoys and asks for his Reading Amigo videos.  

Recently we had the opportunity to review part of the Kid Start Spanish program.  After being so disappointed by the Wink To Learn Spanish set (you can read my post about it here), I had very little expectations of this new program, but ended up being pleasantly surprised!

Our Kid Start Spanish came with four disks, a music CD, four sets of flashcards, a book of opposites, and a set of playing card type flashcards for a memory game.  There are also interactive features for an ipod or ipad.  However, I haven't used them, since we have neither.

The instructions from Kid Start Spanish recommend spending about four weeks per disk, watching it once or twice a day.  They also recommend using the corresponding flash cards twice a day, pointing to the from words left to right and very quickly.

For the most part, the videos are very similar in format to Your Baby Can Read.  They are entirely in Spanish, with native Spanish speakers.  First they show the word, pronounce it a couple of times, and show a corresponding video clip.  The word being shown is pronounced slowly enough that a parent that doesn't speak Spanish would still be able to learn it to do the flash cards.  I was a little unsure what Xander would think, since I never really speak to him entirely in Spanish (I know, I know, I should).  He doesn't seem to mind that the video is all in Spanish, though.  Every few minutes there is a song, which really helps keep Xander interested (he LOVES dancing).  Some of the songs are really catchy, and are included on the music CD.  He has been watching it once a day, several days a week.

I am really happy with the video!  It shows quite a few words, and changes it up enough to keep Xander interested.  They also repeat many of the words over the course of the video, which I think is good for reinforcement.  They second showing of the word is far enough apart from the first, that it isn't annoying to watch.  My only complaint would be that for some (not all) of the words, they repeat the same video clips for the second showing.  Most of the words are things familiar to a young child.  The ones I can think of off the top of my head are nose, ears, head, arms up, ball, circle, clap, kick, bird, chick, yes, no, and dinosaur, as well as various colors (all in Spanish, of course).  They even show some images of famous landmarks like Machu Pichu and the Sphinx.

Below is a picture of some of the flash cards from the first set.  One side has just the word, and the other has the word with a corresponding picture.  Honestly, we have not used the flash cards much.  Xander would probably like them if I did a few at a time, but there are just too many to go through all of them.  I will say that the cards are made from durable material.  It seems like they should stand up to the normal wear and tear of toddlers.  I think I will probably use these a lot more in the future when Xander has more verbal skills and we can make a game out of it.

Here is a shot of the book.  It is entirely in Spanish and lists some opposites and some colors.  The pages are pretty sturdy, although not indestructible.  I haven't worked much with Xander on opposites yet, in any language.  I know this book will be a good asset when we get there!

These are the memory cards.  I have to say, I am very excited for when Xander is old enough to use these!  There are a bunch of them, with picture and word pairs.  They are designed to play memory, but they also seem great for matching games and bingo.  Because they are playing card size, they would be easy to throw into a bag for on the go activities.

All in all, I am happy with the program.  It is so much better than the other Spanish programs we have tried!  Not only do I like it, Xander is interested (which is really all that matters).  While we do not use all of the components exactly as intended, I still think Xander will benefit from it.