5 Best Back-to-School Math Apps for Students

Math isn’t the same as it used to be! Parents may struggle to help their children learn even basic concepts, as the way to work the problems today is different than even 10 years ago. One way to help your child build their math skills and become more proficient in this essential work is to have them use math apps.

Whether your child wants to become a computer scientist, or you simply want to keep him on track for the school year, you’ll find that math apps reach kids on their level. This generation loves technology, so having a mobile device in hand is second nature. Here are five math apps to help you get off on the right foot this year for back-to-school time.

1. Monkey Math School Sunshine

Monkey Math is a fun app for beginning math students. It covers basic math such as addition, subtraction, patterns, and counting. The app is targeted to ages three to six but works well to help kindergarten students learn the basic concepts needed to enter first grade.

Children learn by completing fun activities and solving problems for the monkey. The app has a 4.3-star rating and works with iOS 7.0 or higher. It works with an iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. A separate version is available in the Google Play store for Android devices.

(The app costs $1.99 both on the App Store and Google Play.)

2. Monster Math

Monster Math, which is for kindergarten through fifth grade students, combines different apps to help kids work on fundamental math skills. Currently being used by more than 3 million people worldwide, it emphasizes the importance of learning “number sense,” which is an intuitive understanding of numbers’ values and operations.

According to the Monster Math’s website, students can expect to see results and change their attitudes about math by investing just 10–15 minutes a day in developing their skills.

(Free with in-app purchases offered.)

3. Moose Math

Moose Math teaches a range of different math skills, including counting, addition, subtraction, sorting, and even geometry. It includes five various math activities: Moose Juice, where kids make smoothies while practicing counting, addition, and subtraction; Paint Pet, which helps kids work on counting skills; Pet Bingo, where students solve addition, subtraction, and counting problems to get bingo; Lost and Found, which helps kids work on sorting shapes and colors; and Dot to Dot, a game where students help the Dust Funny find his way home.

(Free for Android and iOS.)

4. Brainly

Have you ever wished there was a community of people you could turn to with math questions when your child is doing homework? There is! The Brainly math app is basically a community-based app made up of people who answer each other’s math questions. The levels go from kindergarten all the way through college levels.

This app covers a variety of topics, including math. Questions are typically answered fairly promptly. Because it’s free, you may need to wait a bit before your question is answered. Whenever possible, get a quick start on homework assignments, and allow time for answers to questions to come in. Brainly has a five-star rating out of 344,000+ reviews.

(Free for Android and iOS.)

5. Splash Math

Splash Math offers lessons in more than 350 math skills. The app works via interactive games and rewards kids with coins they can later redeem for virtual pets. The app works with an iPad, iPhone, and desktop computers. Parents can access progress reports via a dashboard or a Parent Connect app. They’re also sent weekly progress reports via email.

The game has 4.4 out of 5 stars and 1,400 reviews. Although the game is free, in-app purchases are offered for continued playtime or other features.

(Free with in-app purchases offered.)

Back-to-School Math Apps

These options are some of the most popular math apps available for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. New apps are released every week, and upgrades are made to old ones.

The key to finding the best app for your children is finding the one they easily understand and will use. With a little experimenting, your child’s interest in math will soar, and they’ll be getting straight A’s in math before you know it.