As a nerd dad, I love finding ios apps that help my kids to become nerds like me. Athleticism does not run in my genes, but I think I can assist my kids in getting to the head of the academic class.  There is a lot of junk in the app world; brain candy that may give short term burst of dopamine rewards for capturing coins, but in the midst of the haystack of cloned mindlessness, there are some real gems that don’t make me feel guilty for the time my kids are glued to the screen. This will be the first in a line of app endorsements.

Dragonbox algebra for 5 year olds

The game’s goal is to isolate the “dragon box” by canceling out daytime critters that surround it with nighttime mirror images. Each stage conquered allows the monster in the box to evolve.  Sneakily the dragon box becomes an “X” and the critters that need to be removed from the dragonbox side of the screen become “A”, “B”, “C”, etc.

By the end of the game, the kids are solving complex algebraic equations. Soooo cleverly done!

The app costs $4.99.  I rarely pay for apps, but this one is well worth the money!