Problem Solving

**Prices listed were the prices at the time the app was added to my list.  Note that prices may change at any time.


NEW!  Go Car Go (Favorite)
Price: $0.99
Seller: Caravan Interactive, Inc 
Information: Children try to be the last person to put their chips in a chute.  They have to use their thinking skills to decide the best placement of their chips each turn so that they can have their chips end up at the top.

Ah Chute
Price: $0.99
Seller: Randy Hengst 
Information: Children try to be the last person to put their chips in a chute.  They have to use their thinking skills to decide the best placement of their chips each turn so that they can have their chips end up at the top.


Bee-Bot+
Price: $1.99
Seller: TTS Group Limited 
Information: The goal is to get Bee-Bot to his flower.  However, you have to pre-program Bee-Bot with the correct directions and then watch to see if you programmed it correctly.

DragonBox+ 
Price: $5.99
Seller: WeWantToKnow AS
Information: This app is a fun game to play even as an adult.  The early levels start out with early algebraic ideas about combining pieces that will “cancel each other out” but with cards.  There are no audio directions so you may have to read the directions the first time, but after that it seems to be intuitive for the kids.

JellyCar 3+  
Price: FREE
Seller: Walt Disney
Information: Kids, and adults, love JellyCar.  People may think there is no “math” in this app, but the problem solving and spatial skills that kids need to do in order to get their JellyCar to fit where it needs to go develops good problem solving skills and perseverance.

Math Word Problems Grade 1 & Grade 2 (iPad)
Price: $2.99
Seller: Teacher Created Resources
Information: You select a concept and the app brings up word problems for that concept.  It takes you into a work space that students can drag manipulatives into or draw in to help them solve the problem.  This is not something kids could work on their own because they do not even have to answer the problem to go on to the next problem.

Rush Hour+
Price: $2.99
Seller: Think Fun Inc
Information: Just like the game Rush Hour.  You have to move the cars and trucks around to get the red car out of Rush Hour...and hopefully in the least number of moves possible.

Singapore Math, Bar Models Level 2 (iPad)
Price: FREE, but has an in-app purchase to get the full functionality.
Seller: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Information: The idea of this app is good, however I am concerned about how intuitive the tools are for young children to understand on their own.  Once kids learn how to use all the tools, I think the app is a great way to help them use the bar model.  The free version only has a few story problems, but it does give you access to just use the tools.  So as a teacher, you can use the tools to model (or have kids model) in front of the whole class for any problem the class is working with.

Word Problems+
Price: $0.99
Seller: Randy Hengst
Information: A word problem is given (only written, no audio) and the child can use the circle and square “manipulatives” to model the problem to help them get the answer.  The part I do like is that you can customize the setup of the problem under the options to have the “unknown” be in different spots within the problem which relates to the problem types mentioned in CCSS-M.