The best way to boost your child's financial education is to help them improve their maths skills and teach kids about money. Maths skills and financial literacy go hand in hand because they help kids make sense of numerical information. To help your child get to grips with maths, here's our round-up of the best maths apps.
Best primary school apps
- Pet Bingo. An entertaining app that takes kids on a mathematical adventure! Kids will learn addition, subtraction, and multiplication through fun multi-level activities! The app includes educational hints teachers have developed to help kids understand maths concepts. Best for ages 5 to 11 years.
- Squeebles Maths Race. A gaming app that is ideal for kids who love competition. Your child's challenge is to get their Squeeble (a friendly monster) to the finish line on the back of a fish before their opponent does. You move forwards by answering maths questions correctly.
- Marble Maths. An app that involves solving maths problems that appear at the top of the screen by rolling a marble through a maze and collecting the correct numbers or items to solve the problem. It is best for children aged nine and over, ranging from simple maths to more complicated KS4 maths.
- Maths Logic & Games for kids. A maths game for kids that invites you to go on an exciting journey through the world of maths and logic. The game allows you to select the difficulty level of the tasks you would like your child to master.
- Timetable Multiplication. This is a fantastic app to help your child learn their times tables from 1 - 10 while having fun solving different mini-maths quizzes.
- Twinkl Rapid Math. This app features over 100 game modes of varying difficulty covering six key topics: Time tables, addition, number facts, division, halving and doubling.
- Math Shed. Developed by a team of teachers including maths specialists, Math Shed gives a fun and easy-to-use way to practise maths skills and covers number bonds, times tables, powers of ten with and without decimals, addition and subtraction up to 4 digit numbers and counting through zero.
- DoodleTables: Times Tables. Perfect for primary school kids, this app boosts times tables confidence with a personalised program tailored to your child's strengths and weaknesses. It helps children understand the relationships between numbers and encourages instant recall through the '60-Second Challenge' feature.
Best secondary school apps
- Incredible Numbers! Bestselling author Professor Ian Stewart is your guide through incredible numbers. From defining the patterns of sunflowers to answering existential questions like, 'How many ways are there to lace my shoes?' It's full of Interactive mathematical examples – from simple equations to a working Enigma machine.
- Brilliant Math. This app helps sharpen users' mathematical skills. Kids can select from topics like algebra and geometry and engage in bite-sized activities to improve their maths skills.
- Khan Academy. An excellent app for KS3 upwards offering expert-created videos, interactive exercises, and in-depth articles in arithmetic, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, differential equations and more.
- GCSE Maths Super Edition. The complete GCSE revision app. Over 250 revision notes and 2700 questions with solutions and explanations on Algebra, Stats, and Geometry. Includes syllabus for Foundation and Higher levels for all exams boards.
- Duolingo Maths. Bringing all the best parts of Duolingo, gamification, streaks and bite-sized lessons to Maths (initially Duolingo was for languages). Excellent for kids looking to boost their arithmetic and maths skills.
- Kahoot! Algebra 2 by DragonBox. A great app that helps kids learn algebra. A must-have tool for students to gain confidence and improve their understanding of elements such as parentheses, positive and negative signs, the addition of fractions (common denominators) and factorisation.
- Mathway: Math Problem Solver. Mathway gives you unlimited access to maths solutions to help you understand complex concepts. Point your camera and snap a photo or type your maths homework question for step-by-step answers.
- Algebra Touch. An app with visual algebra activities to give you a fresh perspective on maths, with in-depth videos and a challenge mode at the end of each module to test your understanding.
All apps available on iOS and Android
What are the benefits of maths apps?
Convenient and portable
One massive benefit of maths apps is they can be used on the go with any mobile device or tablet. This allows learning to happen wherever you are and during periods of free time that are easily wasted.
Affordable and accessible
Most apps are also free, giving you extra resources at your fingertips. However, some offer a subscription level that unlocks more in-depth resources or is attached to a subscription website.
Motivating game elements
Using gamification (game design elements in non-game contexts) helps motivate and engage kids by making learning more interactive. This can then increase the motivation to engage with the material. It also enhances engagement by adding game-like elements such as streaks, points, badges, and leaderboards and immediate feedback,
Personalised learning
Maths apps also adapt to the learner's skill level, offering a personalised learning experience that caters to your child's needs.
A wide variety of topics
Apps also offer a wide variety of topics and skill levels, from basic arithmetic to advanced calculus and statistics, providing learners with all levels of maths for all ages.
Related: How to teach children to count money
How to choose the best maths app for your child
Are the features good?
Not all apps are made equal. Look for an app that has high-quality content, preferably designed by experts. It can help to check user reviews to see what others think about the app.
Is it age-appropriate?
Choose an appropriate app for your child's age and skill level. Look for one that offers a range of challenging levels so there's room for progression.
Is it teaching mathematical skills?
This can help you see if it's easy to understand and whether it's teaching maths rather than just providing games that loosely involve maths. The app should help your child to understand and practise mathematical concepts.
Are there safety features?
The app should be safe for your child to use and also does not collect any personal information. Check the privacy policy, so your child's data is protected.
How much does it cost?
Is the app worth the investment if it's not free? If it costs money, what are you getting for your money and is it benefitting your child? Have a trial run to work this out.
How can GoHenry help?
GoHenry can help children develop their maths skills in financial literacy, by budgeting, goal setting and looking at transactions. The GoHenry app and kids' debit card also allows parents to set up rewards for completing chores and reaching goals, which then helps children calculate how much money they will earn for completing a task or how much they need to save to buy something they want.
Lastly, Money Missions on the app also allows kids and teens to take their learning further with age-appropriate bite-sized lessons and quizzes on investing, saving, budgeting and more.
Related articles:
Activities to teach your kids financial literacy
How to teach kids the value of money
Financial literacy resources for children
