Learn to Count Money

Money practice treasure could be more valuable with more games

Learning rating

Community rating

Based on 1 review

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Expert evaluation by Common Sense

Grades

K–4

Subjects & Skills

Critical Thinking, Math

Price: Paid
Platforms: Android, Kindle Fire

Pros: Cute theme, bright graphics, and difficulty flexibility.

Cons: Not enough game variety.

Bottom Line: Boring name but cute pirate theme makes money mostly simple and fun.

Learn the denominations and then count money as a class via interactive whiteboard on this app's How Much Money game. There are only five rounds per game, so practice can be brief or you can play more rounds. Choosing from one of four levels allows teachers to customize what denominations or combinations of coins and bills their students are ready to practice. The Put Money on the Map game offers a way for kids to practice finding the proper combination of coins and bills to make the exact amount of money requested, down to the penny. With older kids, discuss what sorts of things $19.98 or $34.42 could buy, talk about why pennies aren't often used anymore, and discuss the pros and cons of carrying and using cash. For younger kids, because of its fun pirate theme and short game rounds, Learn to Count Money could be the fun digital portion of an entire pirate theme to introduce money counting.

Learn to Count Money contains just enough interest through the fun pirate speak and theme to keep kids coming back for more. Controls are simple, and navigation is fast and well-designed. The three modes -- Intro to Money, How Much Money, and Put Money on the Map -- help kids learn about money or practice a specific money-counting skill such as denomination basics, counting up, and counting to a target amount. There's a home button on every page, clear enough instructions, and very real-looking money that make the play experience engaging. Kids can choose difficulty from easy to very hard. There's also a fun list of pirate sayings. On the downside, two of the games are pretty similar, the graphics are a bit too busy, and the target amount of money can get lost. Games come in groups of five, but there are no official levels to show progress. Results (number correct, game, and level) will likely be of interest to teachers, but kids may not care as much about the log-style reporting. While the app does not teach kids how to add, it does give them fun reinforcement and experiences once they know how.

Learn to Count Money is more about money practice than learning about money. It includes three game choices, four difficulty levels, and a few other settings to customize gameplay. Kids can practice basic money counting as they apply what they have learned in class about money and the little bit they learn in the Intro to Money portion of this app, where kids can learn denominations from one cent to $20 visually (with images of the individual coin or bill), with the numeric value, or by written name. A good starter money-counting practice app.

Learning Rating

Overall Rating
Engagement

Pirate theme creates interest, but gameplay could use more variety. 

Pedagogy

Covers basics with some depth, but the app could use a couple more games and a short tutorial on how to count on and back.

Support

Help screens are useful but a bit too busy to understand; data log is useful for adults.

Common Sense reviewer

Community Rating

Learn to identify and count

The app has enough fun to be of interest to students, without being too distracting. Being able to choose the level of difficulty in the settings make it useful for a variety of grade/skill levels. On my 7" Nexus 7, the coins, bills, and text are very, very small. This would be problematic for group work or students without very good vision. Since the app is aimed at K-4, I would like to see a specific connection to decimals as an option to make it more useful for those higher grades.

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