Review: Lola's Math Train

By Rebecca For his 5^th birthday, my son received a new 3DS.  It’s a Nintendo hand held game system that reminds me of when I had a Game Boy. Clearly, the new system has better graphics, more games, more tools like a camera, but the fun is still the same.

It was a great fit to have a chance to review the new math game for the 3DS called ‘Lola’s Math Train’.  Any time there’s an opportunity for my kids to learn while having fun, it’s a bonus. He was happy to have a new game to check out.

The one area that my son needs a little extra push in is math. He can do it, but often he doesn’t want to.  Subtraction seems to be trickier for him at this stage and while he’s great with patterns, he’s far more interested in language than numbers.

The game is leveled into easy, medium and hard. Easy identifies numbers, medium has more counting and hard has patterns, addition and subtraction.

The game is recommended for ages 3-8.  My kids are 4 and 6 and it was great for them, but likely even more so for my 4 year old.  The math problems in the easy and medium levels aren’t super challenging for my son, but they are really good for him to practice simple equations and build confidence (something that is half the battle for him).  Since he’s still needing help in some subtraction and problem solving areas (such as ‘which two numbers add up to 6), the hard level was a really good push for him. The beginning levels (easy and medium) were perfect for my 4-year-old who is just learning math concepts and loves to count.

I asked my six-year-old what he thought of the game and with beaming eyes he answered ‘really good!’.

His favourite part of the game is getting to the end of the level and selecting an animal friend to hop on the train with him.

His least favourite part of the game is subtraction (no surprises here!)

The game is a really fun, cute way of learning numbers and doing simple math.  It will soon become less challenging for my 6-year-old who continues to learn math and improve at school, however, for my 4-year-old the timing is perfect and the game will grow with her for some time.

Rebecca writes about parenting, food and family fun on her blog A Little Bit of Momsense.  She was compensated for her review but the views are her own.