Vegetable Maths Masters

Maths and vegetables are two things that children often need encouragement to try and enjoy.   Both are the victim of an undeserved but persistent stereotyping.

"Maths is too hard." 

"Vegetables taste bad." 

Add to these the lazy humour and flippancy heard in day-to-day life and it is no wonder that children often develop a negative outlook on maths and vegetables.  We've all heard someone say, "I'm terrible at maths", with almost a tone of pride.  The thought of boiled sprouts is often conjured up to provide a humourous image of disgust.

The two undeservedly maligned subjects join forces in an app produced by child psychology and education experts.  On the maths side, the app supports young children as they learn the basics.  On the vegetable side, the negative view of vegetables is challenged by associating them with rewards for success.

The app takes the familiar form of a series of mini-games that provide practice for children who are just beginning to establish their numeracy skills.  Easier tasks include tracing written digits to become familiar with how they are formed and counting vegetables.  More advanced understanding is challenged by selecting a given fraction of vegetables or adding groups of them together.

The difficulty of the challenges is loosely grouped according to ages but these should only be seen as guidelines.  Children should be encouraged to practice with whatever interests them and where they do not understand, parents and teachers can provide some quick guidance. 

The games are as good as any you might find in any app of maths minigames.  They look and sound great.  They are easy to understand and play.  Topics that are useful to practice are covered in a fun and engaging way. 

Vegetables feature heavily in the games as counting tokens, objects for manipulation, and thinking aids.  In a reversal of the typical idea of vegetables equalling a chore deserving of a reward, vegetables form the basis of rewards in each game.  From earning points to dress up vegetable-based characters, to the spoken response to a task well done, vegetables are associated with success and positivity. 

Parents and teachers can select which vegetables are the focus of the app.  For example, if children are already happy with peas, these can be removed from the app's focus so that the other vegetables are encountered more often.

As a maths app, this is a useful and fun app for children to develop their skills.    It would be a lot to expect of an app to counter the negativity towards vegetables fully but Vegetable Maths Masters is clearly well thought out to do as much as it can.  With the thoughtful support of adults in each child's life, alongside the positive experiences of eating healthily, this app can help to rescue the reputation of vegetables for children.  Healthy eating, after all, is not just avoiding too much unhealthy food, it is the consumption of beneficial food. 

It might often be said that there is no such thing as a free (vegetable-based) lunch, but, in this case, there is such a thing as a free app.  The app is the result of the collaboration of universities and charities and is free of charge, free from ads, and contains no in-app purchases.  As the app in its entirety has no cost, there is absolutely no reason not to download it straight away to your child's mobile device.  It is free, useful, high quality, and, in its approach, unique.

You can download Vegetable Maths Masters on your iOS or Android devices from the app stores. Download the Vegetable Maths Masters app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.