Teachley: Market Bay

Kids get great practice with a handful of simple math skills that are well integrated in a fun virtual marketplace. As kids buy and sell items, they repeatedly interact with addition, subtraction, place value, and money concepts. There are some nice learning supports that give kids a few options for approaching the math concepts. For example, when kids add or subtract to see how much money they have after a transaction, visual aids can be in the form of dollar bills or unit blocks. Sometimes game controls are bit awkward though, particularly if playing on a small screen. Younger kids especially may need a bit of practice. The main downside to Teachley: Market Bay is that it seems to be a one trick pony. That is, there's not much more to the game then buying items to decorate an apartment or turn around and re-sell. The math is also always the same: Kids add or subtract money as they complete quests, and buy or sell things. Even if kids don't get bored doing the same thing over and over again, there's a limit to how much math they're exposed to. It's not immediately clear what new content gets added to warrant Teachley: Market Bay needing to be subscription based. Parents will certainly want to look closely at what their kids do with the two-month free trial before deciding if it's worth a subscription.