Math Fun for Kids: Dreambox Review

My old high school friend Sarah, who used to chat with me in math class, turned up on Facebook. The company she works for, Dreambox, recently launched an online math program for children from kindergarten through second grade, and kids who have used it do better at math in school. Sarah suggested I sign up my two youngest children, Y (7) and TS (5), for a two-week trial.

The math activities are unusual, varied, and sophisticated. Y, who loves math in school (and not much else) keeps asking when he can play again.

The program analyzes the child’s speed, errors, and requests for hints. Then it either provides more review and hints, or jumps to a higher level. The interface is attractive and easy to navigate.

Early activities give practice using the mouse and set the child’s level. Although TS understood the concept behind the activity, she got frustrated by too much “dragging and dropping. ” I asked for feedback through a button at the bottom of the screen. A Dreambox representative wrote back within a few hours, suggesting that I help her until she reaches the higher levels that don’t rely as much on the mouse. I believe that will work, but we haven’t had a chance to try it out.

The difficulty of the exercises increased incrementally so it was not always noticeable. The Dreambox literature explains that similar activities explore the concepts from different angles. Y didn’t always feel he was advancing, but enjoyed even the “easy” activities. The more he played (see below), the closer the activities matched his ability. Children can switch games at any point, and their progress is stored.

One activity involved manipulating beads on an abacus (pictured above). The tasks began on a board with two rows of ten beads and progressed to boards of fifty and a hundred. At this point in the game there were four levels:

Y matched the arrangement of beads with a target picture.
The target picture disappeared after a moment (peeking allowed).
The target appeared as a two-digit number instead of a picture.
The program announced the target number out loud.

Children need to match the target in the smallest number of moves. Y learned that if the target was higher than 50 in a board of 100 beads, he could save moves by tilting the abacus to move all the beads into play, then returning the smaller amount. As he went, he figured out different approaches to solving the problems.

The next activity began at a higher level, hard enough to be challenging but not over his head. It involved building two equal lines from a number of bars of varying lengths. The program joined the bars when the interim lengths matched, and giving hints when Y took too long.

Y usually likes to get to the nitty-gritty when it comes to learning, but he enjoyed collecting the clues from four interchangeable story themes to complete the adventure. He ignored the “adventure friends” that invited him to play.

No reading is required. A parent would need to stay nearby for children who don’t understand spoken English, but with explanation they could do most activities on their own.

Dreambox is offering the program at a reduced price through the end of March, which gives you just enough time to complete the two-week trial before deciding. More than one child in the family can sign up for the free trial. Once your child begins playing, you will receive detailed progress reports by email.

If your child has tried Dreambox, please share your experience in the comments. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as we did.

[Note: I received an extension of the free trial in exchange for this review.]

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