10 Top Math Apps for Elementary School Children

1. Sums Stacker

The appeal of Sums Stacker is that it feels more like a puzzle than a study aid. Users are presented with three columns of objects, such as dice or coins, and must move the items around until the objects in the columns add up to the sum shown at the bottom. The app is aimed at children seven and older.

2. Cash Cow

For many kids, using money to learn math helps the numbers feel more tangible. Cash Cow takes this concept and centers it around Buck the Cow, whose farm is deeply in debt. Users must help Buck find enough money to keep the farm afloat. In the process, kids learn about adding and using different denominations of coins.

3. Numbers League

An adaptation of a little-known card game, Numbers League teaches and reinforces math concepts from basic arithmetic through advanced multiplication. Users control superheroes who have a series of numbers assigned to their heads, bodies and feet, to defeat villains who also have numbers assigned to them. Your kids can play by themselves, against a computer opponent or against other human players.

4. Park Math

Park Math teaches very basic counting skills as kids interact with animals at a playground. For example, kids must count ducks as they use a slide and balance the mice on a seesaw. This app won the 2011 Parents' Choice Silver Award winner from the Parents' Choice Foundation and the 2010 iLounge Best Kids' iPhone/iPod App of the Year Award.

5. Meteor Math

A variation on the old Asteroids video game, Meteor Math combines arcade thrills with educational math drills. As meteors with numbers printed on them fly around, users must choose two to collide in order to make the number provided at the top of the screen. Users can test themselves using addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. Wrong answers cost player lives, while correct answers help users advance through the levels.

6. Cute Math

Cute Math is aimed at beginning math students. It includes six games that test counting skills, addition and subtraction. Though simple, the app uses fun sound effects and animation to keep kids engaged and learning.

7. Number Rumble

Designed by Leap Frog, Number Rumble has an interface that looks like a slot machine. The first three columns include two numbers with a mathematical operator in the middle. The fourth column shows the possible result of the equation. Users shake the device to generate a problem, and then they must identify the correct answer.

8. Math Magic

This app tests students' knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The problems are multiple choice and if the user chooses the correct answer, a voice offers congratulations. An incorrect answer will prompt encouraging words and an opportunity to try again.

9. Fractions App

The descriptively-named Fractions App helps kids become familiar with interpreting fractions and performing mathematical operations that involve fractions. The app includes several different types of fraction tests, including Identify, which uses diagrams to help kids understand how fractions work. In addition to the games, there is a tutorial on the concepts behind fractions.

10. Math Bingo

Math and bingo unite in this educational game aimed at children seven years and older. Users must answer simple math problems laid out on a bingo board. Answering correctly earns a Bingo Bug for that space. The goal, as with bingo, is to get five in a row.