Moose Math (Duck, Duck, Moose, 2013; iOS and Android) opens onto a brightly colored city featuring three shops: Moose Juice, Puck’s Pets, and Lost and Found. Each shop offers its own game(s), each with six levels. When you reach the end of any level, you may choose an item to customize your city (a new door for the shop, pinwheels for the yard, etc.). Swipe left and right to view the different shops; tap on a shop’s door to enter and begin a game.

Inside smoothie shop Moose Juice, a recipe card indicates which fruits are needed to make juices such as “Sassy Orange” or “YaYa Lemonade.” The recipe cards are given as simple addition problems (an "Orange Fiesta," for example, is 2 orange slices + 4 carrots + 2 pears = 8 total fruits). Drag the correct number and type of fruits to the blender. As the levels continue, the math becomes more complex, sometimes requiring you to remove excess ingredients from the blender. If you get stuck, tap the purple bird in the lower right corner and she will prompt you with what to do next.



Next, you may venture into Puck’s Pets, which has two games to choose from. The first is a version of Bingo. Use the answers to simple addition and subtraction problems to complete a row or column on the board. The bingo boards are not always the traditional 5x5 boards, but the premise is the same. Your other choice of game is Pet Paint, where you must use your number recognition skills to identify the number of dots on one creature and paint the same number of dots on its companion.



The third shop is Lost and Found, where you again have two options. The first is Dot to Dot, where you will count by ones, twos, fives, and tens to connect the dots leading to a goal. Your second option here is Lost and Found, in which you follow the prompts to sort similarly colored or shaped items into the specified cubbyholes.



Moose Math was developed in partnership with Khan Academy, an online educational program that provides learners with videos and exercises in a variety of subjects. Moose Math is ideal for young children who are working on number recognition, counting, and basic addition and subtraction, and is aligned with Common Core State Standards for kindergarten and first grade curricula. The app also includes a helpful Report Card section, which allows teachers and parents to follow along with a child’s progress.

The animations within the app are brightly colored and energetic, and the background music — which can be disabled — is cheerful, but repetitive. While it would be beneficial for more advanced students if each game had more than the six levels provided, this app is a useful supplemental tool for any young learner who is beginning to build math skills, both at home and in the classroom.

Available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (requires iOS 6.0 or later) and Android devices (requires Android 2.3 and up); free. Recommended for primary users.