can we talk about this kids "math" game, Prodigy? alternatives?

June 29, 2020 12:54 PM

my nephew is a rising 4th grader and is really hooked on prodigy. he creates endless accounts set to first grade so the math questions are easy and really loves the pokemon-esque qualities it has - basically pet collecting and world exploring...

I've been remote tutoring him in math and reading and I don't want to knock the game entirely, clearly it captures his imagination, and I like that because I remember what mario 2 felt like (GREAT, lol).. but it's constantly selling to kids and trying to get them to buy membership. Are there some hidden features of it, or ways for parents to make accounts to incentivize kids to actually use it to challenge themselves at math, that I have missed (slash, I confess, been too annoyed by it perhaps to notice?) Or, do you know other alternatives that game-ify k-6 math learnin?

posted by elgee to Education (8 answers total)

If you can limit him to one Prodigy account, you can manually override the grade level (i.e., you can set it for 4th grade math content).

Otherwise, Dreambox is an alternative, but there is a monthly subscription fee.
posted by statsgirl at 1:14 PM on June 29, 2020

My daughter, who was in grade 3 this year, was assigned Prodigy in school. She wouldn't willingly do it but once she started she could play for quite some time. She was also assigned exercises in Knowledgehook. There was a lot of sending presents to classmates in it but it seemed like a pretty good way to practice math and it wasn't so into paying for extras - although it definitely did still push it. My daugher's used to freemium games so ignoring that box isn't hard for her. Knowledgehook is much less of a coherent game though, you do the exercises, get random rewards and increase your ranking.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:18 PM on June 29, 2020

My son was also assigned Prodigy, and his teachers could track his work through his school account. Because of this, he wouldn't get the credit for creating new accounts. We ended up buying him the subscription because the bonus stuff that came with it was worth it--he was more excited to do that part of his homework when he got the extra stars and points it unlocked. Maybe if you buy him a membership, the bonuses would keep him playing on that same account?

But yeah, it seems like getting him to play the game he loves at an appropriate math level is the way to go. I don't think you're going to find a kids' math video game that is not annoying to adults; why not harness his enthusiasm?
posted by gideonfrog at 2:21 PM on June 29, 2020

I had to go in and tinker with the settings for my son's account - he also wanted to focus on the game part :-)

His school also uses IXL, which I like. It's more about the math (and language arts, too!) and less about the monsters and pets ...
posted by chbrooks at 2:53 PM on June 29, 2020

I signed up both my 10-year olds, and signed up for the paid part. I like what they do in it, and I set their levels to be at their grade.

Ymmv, but I think it is a reasonable way to master arithmetic, and I’m a mathematician
posted by Valancy Rachel at 3:13 PM on June 29, 2020

My kids really like DoodleMath on the iPad. (There's also a DoodleEnglish, etc). There's a monthly subscription cost but it's not too expensive and they preferentially seek it out to play even sometimes over things like Minecraft.
posted by forza at 4:09 PM on June 29, 2020

My kid's (4 and 8) also love DoodleMaths.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:30 PM on June 29, 2020

If he likes Pokémon-like characters perhaps he would like math with monsters? Beast Academy has both books and an online curriculum.
posted by oceano at 7:28 PM on June 29, 2020