Marble Math Junior

I downloaded this app for my 5 year old, and I found that he was able to use it with some caveats: He could only use the first of three levels before it got way over his head, and he could only use the finger dragging method rather than the accelerometer. It's really clever conceptually and brings some kinesthetic elements to learning math that might benefit those kids who have trouble with math concepts or find math confounding/boring.

This works super well for my 9 yo, who has used it for several weeks now. She will likely graduate to marble math app from this jr app in a year or two. All the functions work as the expert review states. The other reviewer reported problems with the app that we don't have. It's fun and engaging, but still mostly math. (As opposed to some other games that claim to be math games but kids can almost avoid the math altogether - such as Prodigy.)

The marble is buggy, often not moving when you try to drag it. Very frustrating. The math required is beyond the average 5-year-old, and the option to roll the marble takes more patience, finesse, and coordination than most kids have at that age. On some tasks, it involves Roman numerals -- when are kids taught those? The instructions say you can customize the level of difficulty and skills, but there is no access anywhere to the little "wrench" icon one is supposed to click to customize! Very frustrating and disappointing. My daughter tried it twice for about 10 minutes and gave up. I wish there was a way to sample these apps before buying.