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Splash Math Review & Giveaway

HHM Collage Splash MathLouanne’s Computer App Info

The Splash Math Program is currently used by more than 4 million kids to improve math skills and scores. The program has won several educational awards in the last 3 years.  The program reinforces math concepts with self-paced and adaptive practice anytime, anywhere (works on iPad, laptops and desktops). They offer a free 7 day trial, one month plan, or one year enrollment.

Our 7-year-old is advanced in all areas except math–which is a real stumbling block for her. Numbers are just not her thing, and we are always on the lookout for interesting ways to reinforce what we are teaching her at home.  She recently finished a level of our current math curriculum, so I knew this would be a great for her.

We do not have any “i” devices, so we used the program exclusively on the laptop in our kitchen. The set-up is easy and very straightforward and once set up, you can sign in as the parent or the child. Once logged in, you can choose from all grade levels offered (The program covers grades 1 – 5.), and you can see all the skills for all the grades. My daughter didn’t need any instruction on how to start the program; I just pointed at the skill I wanted her to try, and she took it from there.

The kids can see their progress on the screen, and at the end of each section they can practice the skill again if they didn’t do well, or they can move on to the next skill. Throughout our testing of this, I had her jump around to different skill sets so we could see the graphics on a variety of pages.

If you are logged in as the parent, there are two sections (called “summary” and “performance”) that give a lot of information. You can see the days the child used the program, how much time she has spent, how many skills she has mastered, and which skills still need work. It’s all broken down in pie, bar, and line graphs so the parent can clearly see how the child is doing.

Once the child has been using the program for a while, he can take his coins and spend them in the game section. So far we have seen the aquarium and the jungle. The children can buy animals for their habitats and food for the animals. My daughter thinks they are really cute, but it’s not really a game like in other online products.

I think this is a great program to help kids reinforce their math skills. I also want to make it clear that this is not a teaching/curriculum product. It’s truly a skill review product, and it’s great in that capacity. I look forward to our daughter’s continued use of the program to keep math facts in front of her. The only odd thing we found was that there is no music or sound at all while practicing the skills. I think a “ding” or some sort of audio cue would be helpful when she gets the problems correct or finishes a section. On a side note, the game section with the aquarium and jungle did have sounds and music.

***In-app purchase and enrollment options***

  • Free Trial: 7-day
  • One month enrollment: $9.99
  • One year enrollment: $79.99

HHM Splash Math Pic 1

Taryn’s iPhone and iPad App Info

Splash Math App (iPhone and iPad)Long before we were asked to review this awesome app, I had downloaded a lite version to my phone.  My 9-year-old discovered it, and before long she was begging to play Splash Math instead of “that other app, Mom!”  When it came up for review, I figured it was a good time to have a better look at it myself, so I dutifully downloaded the various grades and away we went.There are apps for each grade from 1st to 5th grade. They review math facts appropriate for each grade level in a fun and interesting way.  Each question is posed verbally (unless the parent chooses to switch off the voice operation) and visually, both in words and in images.  Along the way, kids can earn little tokens appropriate to the theme of the grade level they are working on.  These tokens all count toward completing their ultimate goal. As an added incentive, one can earn more varied tokens by purchasing other in-app packs.While working on the 2nd Grade app, which has an “under the sea” theme, I was impressed by the varying ways the same process is phrased.  For example, the simple sum of 40 plus 30 could be phrased:
  • identify the addition sentence or
  • what is 4 tens plus 3 tens? or 
  • which addition sentence best represents the picture below? (And the image of the numbers is shown, and the prompt requires the child to recognize the addition sentence that best represents the image.)

At the end of each test, the kids get to play in their aquariums by moving about their sea creatures through a dance option, feeding their angel fish, and so on.

Parents have control over media sharing, purchasing add-ons, voice control, and so on.  However, my critique is that it is quite easy to access the parent area if the child can already read.  Perhaps a later version of this app will upgrade that aspect to include a special parent password to access that area. It took me a while to realize that I could switch off the practice reminders that kept popping up during the day.  This is a handy option for a device used exclusively for school purposes, but I would advise switching it off if your device also happens to be your personal phone!  Thankfully, it is easy to switch them off, and there are also options that allow one to control background music, sound effects, and more – this is a great blessing when one needs the volume for the questions but doesn’t want to distract the other kids in the family from their own tasks thanks to the fun music of Splash Math!

The app allows for multiple players up to 5 students and a guest.  This is great when one has numerous kids working on the same grade level.  I look forward to the PC version increasing their limit from 2 to more kids so that all four of my children can benefit.

When I asked my daughter what she thought of Splash Math, her answer was enthusiastic and positive.  “It’s great, Mom!  I love that it’s fun and I get to earn things.  I love how they ask questions in different ways.  I really enjoy it!”  This comes from my traditional learning-resistant child who would much rather be creating recipes from her head than sitting down to learn boring math facts, so all-in-all, I would say that Splash Math is a winner!

We are pleased to be able to give away a Splash Math subscription.

If you have a child in kindergarten through 5th grade, you may win a one-year subscription to Splash Math! Please enter below.


Taryn Taryn Hayes calls Cape Town, South Africa her home, but she also has a soft spot for Menominee, Michigan where she spent a wonderful year in 1995 as a Rotary Youth Exchange student. Her husband, Craig, whom she met in high school, and their four crazy kids feature regularly over at their family blog, Hazy Days. Taryn is also the author of the youth novel, Seekers of the Lost Boy, about a 12-year-old homeschooled boy and his family. They end up on an incredible adventure after finding a mysterious message in a bottle, washed up on the beach one morning. You can connect with Taryn and learn more about the homeschooled characters from her Seekers series on her website or on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

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29 Comments

    1. Hi Beki! In the upper left-hand corner of the rafflecopter you’ll find the info that tells how much longer the contest is open for entries. It gives the number of days and hours remaining. 🙂 Thanks for asking in case anyone else had the same question!

  1. I’m just starting to do homeschool activities with my kids. We travel in our fifth wheel for my husbands work so I’m preparing to homeschool when my oldest is kindergarten age but figured I might as well start now! We have the lite splash math app to try and I’d love the full!! Thanks!

  2. This would be an awesome thing to win! I just started homeschooling this year ( 4 kids) and I’m always looking for great apps to mix things up for them 🙂

  3. I have a First Grader and Fifth Grader that I would like to use this program for. They both like math to some degree, but I would love to have something like this to help work on their math weaknesses. Thanks so much for offering this giveaway! 🙂

  4. My first grader does not like doing math in workbooks but loves playing math games. My kindergartener just likes to do what his older brother is doing.

  5. This would be perfect for my girl! She is in kindergarten. She loves homeschooling and has her alphabet down but struggles a bit with simple math:-)What a blessing this would be!!!!

  6. Thanks so much for the reply. When I made that comment it wouldn’t let me enter and stated that the contest was over. Weird……but just glad that we could enter. Thanks for the opportunity to help with Math for my 1st and 2nd graders. Happy New Year!

  7. My son is almost 8 and in second grade. We struggle with Math, it’ one of his least favorite subjects!

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