• Editor Rating

  • Rated 4.5 stars
  • Highly Recommended
$$2.99

  • More or Less
  • Reviewed by:
  • Published on:
  • Last modified: November 19, 2019
  • Quality
    Editor: 100%
  • Education
    Editor: 100%
  • Entertainment
    Editor: 90%
  • Value
    Editor: 80%
  • Child Friendliness
    Editor: 90%

Review Summary:

Kids use virtual wooden beads to represent the numbers in addition and subtraction problems, helping them gain their own understanding of the concepts.

[appimg 999799714]

App Info

Price: [app 999799714] {price}
AppStore User Rating: {stars}[/app] Download on the App Store

Overview

More or Less helps kids build their basic addition and subtraction skills by using wooden beads to help them manipulate the numbers. The app comes with six levels of difficulty, three for addition and three for subtraction, that allow kids to learn the skills in different ways. Kids can make up their own addition and subtraction problems using the numbers 0-9, solve given problems, and even solve for missing numbers in problems. The high-quality but simple design allows kids to focus on the numbers and the process rather than the bells and whistles. While developers encourage the purchase of a wooden number toy to use with the app, it is a solid skill-building tool all on its own.

Features include:

  • Available in 11 different languages
  • Uses beads to represent numbers
  • Features silly characters and fun music
  • Allows parents and teachers to customize intervals for problems
  • Works with developer’s wooden number toy

Quality

On the middle of the app’s main screen kids see a plus sign and a minus. The plus sign leads to addition activities and the minus sign leads to subtraction activities. Once kids are in an activity, a set of three chickens in the right hand corner represents the level. The activities do not come with a lot of instructions, but are fairly intuitive. A child narrator reads out all of the numbers and problems for kids.

Education

The app focuses on teaching basic addition and subtraction skills. At the first level, kids get to create their own additional and subtraction problems by dragging numbers into the problem. Then next level has kids watch the beads move to create the answer to a given problem. The final level has kids manipulate the beads to find the missing number in a given problem. For example, in the problem 10+?=11 kids must drag 10 beads to figure out how many are left and find out that 10+1=11. Parents and teachers can adjust the intervals of results and operands to help make the activities easier or harder for kids. For example, preschoolers may enjoy the app with intervals from 1-4 to help them understand the concepts before trying more challenging problems.

Entertainment

Rather than simply answering each problem, kids get the chance to move the wooden beads to form the answer. This tactile component helps make the app a lot more entertaining. Small effects, such as the silly creatures on the main page, or the sound effects when kids place the numbers in a subtraction problem in the wrong order add to the app’s entertainment factor.

Value

The concept of More or Less is fun and designed to help kids learn. The app is also a high quality. However, the price of the app, particularly if parents opt to purchase the suggested wooden toy set, is a little high compared to similar apps available. It’s still a great app for teaching addition and subtraction, but parents should expect to pay a little more for some of its features.

Child Friendliness

Parents can access additional information about the app, the wooden toy that connects with it, and similar apps via the Parent Info icon on the main screen. This section is protected by a strong parental block. Kids do have access to the settings which allows them to adjust the intervals of the results and operands used in the activities.

  • Protected parent area (can contain external links & social media)
  • NO external links
  • NO social media
  • NO 3rd party ads
  • NO in-app purchase

Kids use virtual wooden beads to represent the numbers in addition and subtraction problems, helping them gain their own understanding of the concepts.

$$2.99
Editor rating
Rated 4.5 stars