ipad math app for little ones — free right now

I try out lots of free apps but am generally unimpressed. This weekend I tried this one called Native Numbers at the iTunes store. The full version is free right now, but probably only for a day or so. I had my 5yo test it out and it was actually surprisingly good!

There is a big focus (at least in the first couple of early levels that he tried) on visualizing the numbers. So, at this level, that would be like dot patterns you are familiar with on a dice and knowing that that pattern is “5” without having to count the dots. This game does a great job with practicing and reinforcing that. The audio component is clear and background music pleasing (not annoying like many kids games can be).

We only spent about 15 minutes on it and the higher levels are locked until he works his way up to them, but I wanted to share while (hopefully) it’s still free.