Review by Dana Villamagna, Common Sense Education | Updated July 2012
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Cash Cow

Get it now
  • Download on Google Play
  • Download from App Store

Money-counting game adds up to truckloads of fun on the farm

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • Math
Skills
  • Critical Thinking
Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
1–3
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (1 Review)
Price:  $0.99
Platforms:  Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Take a look inside

4 images
Select many coin combinations to add up to the target amount.
Target numbers increase as kids move up in levels.
When the whole level is cleared, the target number increases and more buying choices appear.
Decorate a farm scene by purchasing animals, plants, and other stuff.

Pros: This game is a highly engaging way to practice addition.

Cons: Game lacks customization options and detailed feedback.

Bottom Line: Cash Cow offers entertaining addition practice that keeps kids engaged with building their farm.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

This app can be a really fun way to engage kids in money-based addition practice, especially in 1-to-1 classrooms. The only customization options are to turn sound effects or music on or off, and only three different user accounts can be created. Cash Cow may be an especially good app to recommend to parents for use in at-home math practice, because kids are likely to want to play for extended periods of time (perhaps too much time to fit into the school day on a regular basis).

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Standards:

Cash Cow is an adding game app that's based entirely around the mathematics of money. In order to clear coins from the board, you need to connect smaller denominations and merge them into larger denominations. For example, connecting five nickels makes a quarter -- but so does connecting a dime, two nickels, and five pennies. The strategy is all in the numbers. Kids can see what the new goal is on each level, and they view the amount of money they've collected at the top of each screen. After successfully completing a level, students can use their "earnings" to buy stuff for the farm -- for example, apple trees, chickens, butterflies, a weather vane. As kids move through the levels, more buying options appear and mini-games add to the fun.

Cash Cow is a fun way to mix adding practice and money-counting skills. Students use strategy and problem solving to quickly determine which coin combinations are possible. Kids practice adding with coin denominations by adding pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, which can add up to many dollars, depending upon how long kids play (which will most likely be as long as you want, because this app is highly engaging). The beautiful farm scenes that kids make with their earnings are soothing and calm, which add to the app's appeal. The tutorials at the beginning of each new level help kids understand how to be successful. On the downside, struggling players don't get much constructive feedback, and the app lacks customization options.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Don't think about the math -- just play the game! You'll quickly see how fun and appealing it is. And between rounds, players get to use "money" they've collected to decorate and customize their farm scenes.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Kids learn through multiple attempts, developing problem-solving and strategic thinking skills as they play.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Struggling players don't get much informative feedback, but the tutorials at the beginning of each new level help kids understand how to be successful.

Common Sense Reviewer
Dana Villamagna Classroom teacher
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Number And Operations In Base Ten

  • 1.NBT.2

    Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. Understand the following as special cases:

  • 2.NBT.2

    Count within 1000; skip-count by 5s, 10s, and 100s.

  • 2.NBT.5

    Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.

Operations And Algebraic Thinking

  • 1.OA.6

    Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. Use strategies such as counting on; making ten (e.g., 8 + 6 = 8 + 2 + 4 = 10 + 4 = 14); decomposing a number leading to a ten (e.g., 13 – 4 = 13 – 3 – 1 = 10 – 1 = 9); using the relationship between addition and subtraction (e.g., knowing that 8 + 4 = 12, one knows 12 – 8 = 4); and creating equivalent but easier or known sums (e.g., adding 6 + 7 by creating the known equivalent 6 + 6 + 1 = 12 + 1 = 13).

  • 2.OA.2

    Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies.2 By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.

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Teacher Reviews

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Featured review by
Wendy B. , Technology coordinator
Technology coordinator
Using addition concepts, students add loose change to assist in saving a farm from the bank.
This app requires literacy skills as students must read in order to advance to the various levels. While this app claims to assist with counting coins and addition, it falls short. Students are asked to add loose change from a screen filled with nickles, dimes, pennies and quarters, in order to arrive at a pre-determined total which would allow the animal to save his farm. However, while it sounds good, students do not have to actually do any addition. The students can simply click on the coins and ...
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