Common Sense Media Review
By Dana Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Visual lessons, basic math concepts via fun flying game.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Numbala
Parent and Kid Reviews
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
To play NUMBALA, enter your name, gender, and birth date, and then set the level of difficulty. Tap play to begin on Level 1, called "Pinomba Island." Watch the visual storyline on which gameplay is based, and view the visual tutorial on the game's number line. After you begin, watch the on-screen hand for clues. Tap the number on the flying ship that matches the number of dots or numeral in the airscape where your character is flying to line them up, fly through them, and earn points. As the levels progress, players use different skills (shooting lasers, avoiding obstacles, numeral recognition, addition, and subtraction).
Is It Any Good?
This flying ship-themed game is a fun, visually appealing way to learn basic math concepts. Besides looking nice, the great thing about Numbala is that the numbers are so baked into the central, pragmatic tasks in the game that kids might not even notice that they're actually doing math. Numbala's way of introducing how objects are grouped and how numerals represent those groups may be particularly effective for kids who are struggling to learn the basics of math in the standard pencil-and-paper way. Other kids will likely just enjoy this fast-paced, pretty game with a slightly exciting (mostly sweet) storyline.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Numbala uses visuals to represent numbers. Look around your house or out in nature for other things you can count and group, add and subtract.
Watch the intro with your kid. There's no audio with the story, so it may be helpful for some kids to talk through the story with an adult to fully understand the story behind the game on this app. What's happening in this game? What's your goal?
Read Common Sense Media's What apps can help my kid do better in math? for more digital math learning resources.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android
- Subjects : Math : addition , numbers , subtraction
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : making conclusions , part-whole relationships
- Pricing structure : Paid
- Release date : July 30, 2018
- Genre : Education
- Publisher : Neurodio
- Version : 1.3.2
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 9.0 or later; Android 4.1 and up
- Last updated : October 20, 2020
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