Lola’s Math Train

All aboard! For train-loving youngsters, there’s no better way to practice basic math than to choo-choo-choose this app for your collection! Lola’s Math Train combines a mix of elementary equations—including addition and subtraction—and puzzles, perfectly suited for the first-grade age group.

While the full app contains nineteen different math activities, even the lite version we reviewed has plenty of variety, with nine included math tasks to try. Count images and select the number represented, complete number puzzles, identify patterns and order objects from smallest to largest as kids drive the train to the station to pick up passengers. Animated animals are cute, colorful, and offer a surprise element; you never know who’ll be waiting at the station.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to save kids’ progress or the animals they collect along the route. Exciting time trials get kids racing to beat the clock as they try to solve puzzles in quick succession. The app includes three levels of difficulty, but once kids tire of the format, there’s nothing new they can earn to keep them engaged. Lola the panda is a loveable conductor—if kids fall in love with this furry friend, developers offer additional Lola apps for other elementary skills.