Motion Math Zoom Helps Children Learn Basic Math Skills

When my mom first introduced me to numbers with decimal points, I was overwhelmed. “What is a thousandth? Shouldn’t it be bigger than a hundredth? Argh!!!!” Finally, my mom made a number line that helped me understand where the numbers belonged and everything started to make sense.
Fast forward twenty years or so and the hand-drawn number line of my childhood is being replaced with a much more interactive and fun way for kids to learn numbers and their place value: Motion Math Zoom.
Motion Math Zoom features an interactive time line that is illustrated by animals to help children learn basic math skills. For example, when students are learning about very small decimals, the numbers are represented by amoebas. Slightly larger whole numbers are represented by animals like ants and frogs, while really big numbers, like thousands, are represented by dinosaurs.
“It’s what you want to do, but also helps you learn,” said one child who has played the game.

Children can pick from many different types of numbers to learn about. Their options include positive whole numbers, 1 – 1,000, negative numbers, decimals in the tenths place, decimals in the hundredths place, and decimals in the thousandths place. There are 24 levels for children to pick from, which means that they can continue to learn with this app for a long time. If a child gets stuck on a level, there are hints that can help him/her figure it out, and therefore, help him/her really learn the math concept.
Now, I don’t want to be disrespectful to my own mother, but I think this is a great tool for parents to use to help their children learn. Motion Math Zoom is currently available on the iPad and will soon be available on the iPhone as well. So, parents, next time your child asks to play with your phone, give them something more educational and useful to do: give them Motion Math Zoom.