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Montessorium: Intro to US App Review

App Info

Price: $4.99

Overview

Kids don’t have to drive across the United States to learn about all of the states. With Intro to United States by Montessorium they can learn the name, shape, and animal of every state. The app incorporates the Montessori approach to education to help children learn this information in a unique way that has been designed to maximize their learning potential. Through its unique puzzles, tracing exercises, and other activities, kids will soon become familiar with all 50 of the states in America.

Features include:

  • Recognize states by name, shape, and location
  • Three types of activities
  • Beautiful drawings of state animals
  • Available in English and Spanish

Quality

All of Montessorium’s apps come with a simplistic, but polished design. Intro to United States is no exception. The app features a neutral background designed to keep kids focused on the educational components. All of the states stand out in bold colors during the activities in which they are featured. When not featured, they fade into the neutral background. Also included in the app are beautiful pictures representing each state’s animal. As kids work through the app, the settings section allows them to access the content in groups of 3, 6, 9, or 12. They can also use the app in English or Spanish. Most of the app’s activities include simple tap and drag motions. Kids must be certain to fully drag objects onto the correct space and completely connect items with lines or risk getting the answer incorrect.

Education

To parents who are not familiar with the Montessori method, much of the app’s content may seem odd. Kids are asked to recognize states in different groups, many of which seem to be chosen randomly. However, developers note that all of the app’s activities were designed to maximize kids’ learning potential and stay true to the Montessori method. Parents can control the pace of the app, choosing to reveal states to kids in sets of 3, 6, 9, or 12. Due to the somewhat random presentation of states, kids who are just beginning to learn United States geography should start with the smallest option.

As they play, kids are introduced to a variety of activities. The first activities simply have kids place the states by shape, with the name of the state being read once it is correctly placed. Rather than rushing through these initial activities, kids should pay close attention to the names and locations of these states. The app will expect kids to have this base knowledge as the activities increase in difficulty.

Entertainment

The activities in the app can seem a bit repetitive, especially in the beginning when kids must simply tap on the correct state and drag it into position multiple times. Kids will become a little more interested when the app introduces each state’s animal. While including state animals in the geography app seems less useful than including state capitals or even nicknames, it does provide a much-needed entertainment factor.

Value

Kids will learn the name, location, and animal of all 50 United States through a series of activities designed using the Montessori approach to education. Still the app is priced higher than similar apps and, while good, may not be as entertaining for kids as many of the lower-priced U.S. geography apps.

Child Friendliness

Tapping on the compass on the app’s opening screen reveals an in-depth explanation of the Junior Cartographer program and the Montessori method, along with the settings and more apps screen. Access to the apps and social media links is visible, but protected by parental locks.

  • Protected parent area (can contain external links & social media)
  • NO external links
  • NO 3rd party ads
  • NO in-app purchase
  • YES “more apps” (protected, but visible)
Intro to United States by Montessorium
Intro to United States by Montessorium
With the help of the Montessori approach, Intro to United States introduces kids to the name, location, shape, and animal of each of the 50 states.
Quality
Education
Entertainment
Value
Child Friendly
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Where to Buy