4.5
Where to Buy

Tiggly Chef Addition: Preschool Math Cooking Game App Review

App Info

Price: Free

Overview

Tiggly Chef offers countless opportunities to count and add in this entertaining and motivating game for young children. Users can experiment with putting groups together as they “cook up” some imaginative culinary delights.

Features include:

  • Connects intuitive math to formalized math
  • Reinforces simple addition concepts
  • Introduces formal math symbols “+” and “=”
  • Allows users to create their own recipes
  • Encourages flexible thinking and playing with numbers

Quality

Tiggly Chef: Preschool Math Cooking Game is loads of fun and encourages young children to practice vital math concepts while they play. This is a well-designed and high-quality app that works with the Tiggly Counting Toys (sold separately) or without them. The toys interact with the screen of your Ipad and provide a tangible way to connect with the numbers. There are five pieces in the physical set, representing numbers one to five. Users lay the toys on the screen to match the number of items needed in the recipe. However, I had some difficulty getting four and the five pieces to register consistently. There was also some inconsistency in whether I could combine two of the pieces to make a larger number. The pieces do have magnetic strips on them that make them easy to place end-to-end, so a child can create “five” by connecting the “two” and the “three” pieces. This seemed to work on the screen sometimes but not others, and I could not find a pattern of when it worked and when it did not.

Education

This is an absolutely outstanding app to teach foundational skills in addition, which is one of the first math operations that children will encounter in a formalized setting. The app has two modes: one that uses the plastic counting pieces that are sold separately, and one that simply allows users to create the numbers needed by tapping one to five fingers on the screen at the same time. The toys require far less coordination to use, but it’s next to impossible to misplace the fingers. The fingers usually come free with most models of children, but the toys are sold separately. The toys also offer the added benefit of providing a concrete representation of each number that children can see, hold and poke, which will help many kids conceptualize the number.

No matter which mode of play your child uses, the Chef of Tiggly Town will take on the young cook and gradually give him or her more responsibilities as levels are completed. The Chef’s creative recipes ask users to add the correct numbers of ingredients (over forty different ones in all) that the Chef uses to make over forty different imaginative dishes such as “Billy Brussel Kiwi Sprout.” Children can put the ingredients into the bowl in groups, and an addition equation appears that shows their progress. For example, if seven carrots are needed for the recipe, the child can add 2, then 3, then 2 more to make the math equation “2 + 3 + 2 =7.” There are tons of possibilities here that will encourage children to think flexibly about numbers and problem solving, which in turn will aid their understanding of math in the future.

Entertainment

Children will have a ball playing with this app. The goofy chef that oversees the kitchen speaks with a great accent and intonation, clear yet silly, that children will have no trouble understanding. The finished recipes have great names that are read aloud for the youngsters, and that match the ingredients used. Once each dish is finished, the chef opens the pot for the cook to “sample” the masterpiece by swiping over it to take bites, then children have the opportunity to record their voices describing how they liked the dish after they ate it. Chef even suggests some great “taste” words, like “sour,” for kids to consider using. It’s also fun to make up your own recipes. This part of the app presents ingredients to choose and gives the apprentice chefs control over how many of each need to be added to the mixture. Once the recipe is written, the game play returns to the original format, where children add the correct number of items to the bowl, then get to see and “sample” the final creation.

Value

This app is free in the App Store, but developers recommend purchase of the companion Counting Toys for $29.95, which seems somewhat expensive. The toys are supported by three different free apps at this time, and do provide a far more comprehensive experience with the numbers. However, the app can be used without the toys. Some children may find that somewhat challenging, though, and many will consistently reach the higher numbers by adding “1 + 1 + 1 +…” instead of grouping numbers as the developers intend. Without specific instructions to try using multiple fingers, many children may not think of this, and that would seriously compromise the app’s educational value.

Child Friendliness

Tiggly Chef is child-friendly, containing no outside advertisements. A protected information area contains information about purchasing the companion toys for $29.95, and a different protected parent information area houses the app’s sound controls, the option to reset the recipes, and links to email, the rating system, and the privacy policy. These areas are well-protected, and developers are to be commended for the high degree of protection for young users.

A very large concern with child friendliness, however, is related to the way that the app encourages children to use multiple fingers in the responses. Some parents may not be aware that iPads have a feature called “multi-tasking” that allows users to switch from one app to the app that was previously opened by swiping multiple fingers from right to left across the screen. This can also happen when using the toys. All it takes is for a child to place the toy and slide it just a bit. The feature is controlled in the settings section and must be TURNED OFF to prevent young users from accidentally dropping out of the Tiggly Chef app and into whatever was opened before it. This should definitely be noted to parents in an obvious place, because young children often should not be using many other apps on a parent’s device.

The app would also benefit from some more obvious directions to users, such as a quick video or a visual prompt about how to use it. I tried to use the version without the toy, and it took a LOT of experimentation to find out that I could use multiple fingers to add larger numbers at one time.

Tiggly Chef
Tiggly Chef: Preschool Math Cooking Game
Tiggly Chef will have your young children giggling, counting, giggling and counting some more as they assist the Chef of Tiggly Town to make some outrageous recipes.
Quality
Education
Entertainment
Value
Child Friendly
4.5
Where to Buy

Comments

25 responses to “Tiggly Chef”

  1. Mary Harris Avatar
    Mary Harris

    Hi!!! Just wanted to check in and see if the winners were drawn!

  2. Hi I’ve heard goodthings about tiggly chef and tiggly counts can I plz have one doe my kid

  3. Mary Harris Avatar
    Mary Harris

    Hi! I would love to win this for my daughter! What a wonderful activity set!

  4. This sounds like fun for the kiddos! Would love to try the toys to go with it. Thanks!

  5. Ralphette kelly Avatar
    Ralphette kelly

    Great app and toy my kids love it

  6. Katrina Ginn Avatar
    Katrina Ginn

    The Tiggly products are very engaging. I would love to have more ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Donna Gardner Avatar
    Donna Gardner

    I would love to win Tiggly Shapes and Tiggly Counts for the kids I work with at my school!!

  8. Jessamyn Avatar
    Jessamyn

    These would be great counting tools!

  9. Heather Fitch Avatar
    Heather Fitch

    My kids love Tiggly Chef! They would be so excited to get this set!

  10. Diana Caffrey Avatar
    Diana Caffrey

    Good Afternoon! Please enter me in the draw for the companion toy for Tiggly Chef and Tiggly Counts. This would be a great Christmas present for my son! Thanks!

  11. Angie Gorz Avatar
    Angie Gorz

    I would absolutely love to win this to use with my child, who has Autism! Thanks for the chance! ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. Helen Wagner Avatar
    Helen Wagner

    I am in love with Tiggly and would love, love, love to win this awesome set for my preschoolers at school!

  13. Sharon Turriff Avatar
    Sharon Turriff

    I have been looking at these and would love a set to use with my son to help him with counting. The apps look great ๐Ÿ™‚

  14. would love this to use with my special education students!!!

  15. bonnie solensky Avatar
    bonnie solensky

    New to apps.thought that this looked fun.we are a homeschooling family.

  16. What a great set! Love to use it!

  17. Alona Berkovitz Avatar
    Alona Berkovitz

    looks awsome!

  18. Christina Avatar
    Christina

    The tangible Tiggly Counts Set looks like so much fun for teaching addition. My children, 4 and 2, love cooking up food in their play kitchen, so this app seems right up their alley. I’d love for them to be able to try these out and learn that there is more than one way to get a final sum when adding.

  19. These would be awesome to use in therapy with our patients at the JD McCarty Center! Thanks for the giveaway ๐Ÿ™‚

  20. samantha bodde (@SPANGLERMOMMY) Avatar
    samantha bodde (@SPANGLERMOMMY)

    These look GREAT
    this would be great for my kids

  21. Krystal M Avatar
    Krystal M

    My boys would LOVE this! Downloaded the app today and I’m sure it will be a hit with both of them, they are 2&4 and love numbers and counting

  22. The Tiggly toys would be great for my daughter

  23. Wassi Chamsy Homeschooling Avatar
    Wassi Chamsy Homeschooling

    Would love one!

  24. Leave a comment for a chance to win the companion toy for Tiggly Chef and Tiggly Counts.

    Giveaway ends November 10th. Winners will be notified November 11th.
    Tiggly Toy Giveaway

    1. Helen Wagner Avatar
      Helen Wagner

      Hi! I love Tiggly! Please put me in the draw for the companion toy for Tiggly Chef and Tiggly Counts!

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