Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Algebra App for ages 5+

Not sure if anyone is aware of this app yet. It's available on Istore and Google Play for PC/Mac/Android.

It's called Dragonbox. There are two - Dragonbox is for ages 5 - 12 and Dragonbox 2 is for 12+, although both my older two kids whipped through the first one in just over a week and are now cheerfully mid way through the second one.

It's algebra taught in picture format. I sure wish someone had explained Algebra to me this way! It's really inexpensive too - I recommend you check it out! I bet you all enjoy playing this addictive game too!

does it make a difference if I get it for iPad or for Android? We're getting a used iPad later this week and already have an Android so not sure which one to get it for? Looks like a great app!

DD9 really enjoys Dragonbox.

uhhh, just got this for DD5 - seemed like it would be right up her street. HOLY CATS. she's a monster with it already - literally cackling away in her room right now.
thanks, Madoosa!!

I am so glad she is enjoying it! It's such a great way to introduce Algebra and in such a fun way too.

LOL I insisted my kids finish every level with 3 stars before I would let them start Dragonbox 2... Just to stretch it to the max value.

ha, that is good, good advice. she generally eats concepts whole, so implementing that rule will give her some more practice on looking after the details!

thanks again; she's having the greatest time - there's a chorus of "the box stands alone" going on in there.

ok. I'm getting it right now! DS5 is playing with the Nook right now and he yelled "DOWNLOAD"! ... he noticed something new was downloading! lol

I'm excited for your son Mk13 I bet he loves it!

doubtfulguest - how exciting is it? Have you watched her play yet? I promise you will want a go too (And you can because you have have your very own profile - it allows 4 profiles I think and saves the progress for all 4!)

ha - i was playing it to get a feel for it when she came in to see what was up. she ripped it out of my hands and played for two seconds in front of me before scampering off. i checked and it seems she's more than 1/2 done the entire game... we'll hide it from her till next week, i think - but i think i'll make my own profile - i do like to know what she's up to!

LOL - the funniest is people's reactions when they realise my kids know Algebra... *mumble mumble hothousing*

I bought this for DS9 awhile back and stayed up WAY past my bed time finishing up the whole game.

He loved it too.

I didn't realize there was a Dragonbox 2. Oh well, there goes my to-do list for today....

lol GinaW

My boys re-discovered it today (Dragonbox 2) as well while waiting in the car and it was great to see them engaging together over my phone. I love these moments

An NYT reporter likes DragonBox:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/t...-children-can-play-the-game-of-math.html
With Apps, Children Can Play the Game of Math
By KIT EATON
New York Times
November 13, 2013

[...]

The most impressive math education app I’ve seen has to be DragonBox Algebra 5+. What impresses me is that its clever design can teach all sorts of complex algebra concepts without making children feel as if they are learning mathematics.

The app is like a game, and it starts at an abstract level: The player has to match small cartoon icons with their matching “dark” alternatives, eventually arranging the pieces on the playing board so that only the magical “box” of the game’s title is left on the board. As the child plays through the levels, the abstract cartoon icons are eventually replaced with numbers and proper mathematical symbols, but with the same gameplay and sound effects.

It’s fun, and the graphics and sound effects are attractive enough to keep children playing. And while they’re playing, they are unknowingly learning some of the same math principles that you need when you’re doing algebra — addition, subtraction, balancing an equation, even concepts like parentheses. Play it yourself and you’ll see how much fun it is.

Perhaps the main drawback to this app is its complicated menus. If you’re going to use it with 5-year-olds, it’s probably best to keep them company so they don’t get frustrated by instructions they cannot read. It is also surprisingly expensive, at $6, but you get over 200 puzzles for your money. The app is on iOS and Android.

I'm tempted to try DragonBox because I've been striking out with math apps for DS5. (DD9 doesn't really need/want them.) I note that all the other apps reviewed in that article seem to have the one of same issues I've already seen--multiple choice. (For example, the question may be “10 x 15 = ?” and the five options are “0, 1, 50, 150, 200.”) I think this is an awful way to do it for kids with number sense. Zero?? One??

Ultra - for MathBoard at least you can choose between multiple choice, fill in the blank and keyboard (settings / answer styles)... I, like you, much prefer it not to be multiple choice :-) My DS8 uses the app at school and I've asked the teacher to switch him away from multiple choice there as well. She told me some children really require it but not my son.

Madoosa - thanks for the suggestion! We have owned it for less than 48 hours and only two problems to go finish parts 1 & 2 :-) He had a very successful round at the hairdresser yesterday, she and her staff of 2 could not figure out what he was doing or how he was doing it so fast!

Pleasure Expat Mama

I knew I had to share it here - it's really right up our kids alley's.

Bostonian - not sure what the reviewer means about complicated instructions. I cannot recall any written instructions per se. Even my 2 year old managed to figure out the beginning puzzles without anyone sitting with him.

ooh dragonbox 2! DS loved the first one. thank you for sharing!

Dragonbox is fabulous! I just downloaded the 5+ one last night, and DD7 and DS11 are already hooked on it. In fact, the first thing she did when she got up this morning was turn on the iPad and start on Dragonbox!

Once DS gets through this one, I'll get him the 12+ one, too.

DD5 & DS8 loooove Dragonbox. A math teacher friend recommended it - raved about it, actually. I didn't even know DD5 had seen it until she downloaded it, herself, on DH's iPhone to play. When he asked where this strange new app had come from I'm not sure what surprised him more: that she was doing algebra or that she knew how to download apps onto his phone!

Okay, you guys just sold me. It's funny--we're so used to apps being free or .99 that SIX DOLLARS seems wildly exorbitant, but I guess we can front it.

Hopefully it will last us more than a couple of weeks. I had to uninstall Angry Birds because it was frustrating DS too much (screeech! cryyyy!). We haven't found a good chess app that we like, nor is he really in love with the other gamey apps I have, so maybe this will keep him busy for a while. He liked one I had called King of Math, but finished the free version. He doesn't need any reading apps and I haven't found any good/fun spelling ones. DD likes the creativity-oriented apps, but those aren't his thing. Our Wii died, and the kids aren't big on TV, so we have actually been not sure what to have him do for his precious screen time block every day. We have Android phones, no tablets.

Ultramarina - we only have Android phones too. Dragonbox works really well on the Samsung S3 mini even. The screen is plenty big enough.

so, it's not DS5.3 who I got it for who loves the game ... it's our DS3.5 who plays it every day! lol I'm guessing it's because the younger one can read the instructions while the older one can't! lol

love it Mk13!! lol

just be careful not to say too loudly that your 3 year old is learning Algebra... teehee (except over in the brag thread of course!!)

I know better than to brag outside of this board ... and he's too non-verbal to let anyone know! lol

I'm not 100% sure it's worth $6 but it's a fun app that is not like anything else out there and DD loves it. I might have to get her the second one soon. Math is definitely her forte but what I find really cute are her reactions to the animation as they are so on target for a three year old girl. "Oh, the fish ate the letters and numbers? I have to do more because he might still be hungry!"

I downloaded DragonBox a earlier this week based on these comments and all my kids love this game. My dd8 plays it as one of her night time relaxation games and this is the one who likes to act like she hates anything with learning involved. Thanks!

DS5 is loving the game. I haven't shown it to DD9 yet. I actually enjoy it too, despite having math phobia. The interesting thing is that I find I have to think of it as algebra at times, or I flub it a little. If I think "solve for x, self," then it becomes easy, but if try to play with beginner's mind, so to speak, I will only get 2 stars, etc.

I finished the first Dragonbox in one day and had to buy the second one, which I came close to finishing that day as well! Despite the fact that it was a total of $16, I think it will be well worth it for both of my kids. They slowed down on it, mostly because it's on my iPad, but they'll both get through it eventually and we can always drag it back up when it becomes necessary for various bits of learning. A nice refresher course, as it were.

I suppose I'll probably have to buy it again for their tablets that they are getting for Christmas. That's when it starts getting expensive!

lol - true! they should have a family app rate I think - where you can add it to 4 devices. I think that would be great!

If you have all apple devices, just link the new tablets to your itunes account. The boys' ipads are both on my account. When we get a new game, it shows up on all three ipads. If it's not appropriate for one of them (too easy, too hard, etc..) , I manually delete it from his ipad screen. But it's always there in my itunes account if I want to add it again.

Nope, theirs will be android. I wish it were that easy! We have to make everything difficult.

we have the same problem ... times THREE ... Kindle Fire HD, Nook HD+ and now an iPad ... all three need separate purchases

Dragonbox is like Snap Circuit. It makes learning fun, so much so that I worry about how DD might react to traditional materials.

What she said...we always know when someone buys a new app or gets a free one because we all get it. We are all under one iTunes account. Then like she said if we like it we keep it if not we delete it.

Hey so I bought dragon box 5 for my 4th grader but didn't tell him about it because I wanted to do it first. I finished it and see I will have to get the 12year old app also. My 13 year old currently taking algebra saw me playing and asked for a turn and his comments were priceless as he was doing it...

Isn't that a clever way of teaching it? And ....huh they will think they are playing but getting the basic thinking.

He was really making good observations and wants to do the whole thing and once he and his brother are done with this wants the 12 yo program too.

Can anyone tell me about the 12 app?

Sweetie the 12+ app starts with a compressed "revision" of some of the original app levels. Then hey move on and it's a lot more of the actual Algebra - also introducing new concepts as you go etc. It's quite a bit trickier. It's great!

It's funny, I thought the 12+ one had more of the "little kid fun" about it than the 5+ one -- there's more about feeding the dragon and making him grow, explaining that part, where the first one didn't really explain. DD7 didn't have any problem figuring out that the dragon was going to grow every few problems, though.

But the 12+ one is definitely trickier, as it moves along. I like them both!