Back in my day, we used our fingers to practice counting, not no fancy, smancy iPad…Well, now your little one can practice counting, addition, and subtraction, with their fingers AND an iPad!

The Little Digits app introduces an interactive way of counting on your fingers, by using the multi-touch screen of the iPad. Children will place their fingertips on the screen, and the app determines how many fingertips have been placed on it, and represents the amount with a friendly, alien monster in the shape of the number. Children can lead the app to count from 0-10 by adding their fingers to the screen one at a time and hear the numbers read aloud by the voiceover (or record you or your child’s voice reading the numbers), or try their hand at solving addition and subtraction problems in the other games of the app. Little Digits focuses on numbers from 0 to 10;  sorry no toes allowed on the screen

Little Digits, by Cowly Owl, is available for the iPad for $2.99, and is recommended for children ages 3-7.

Here’s how the app works:

Open Little Digits, and tap on the question mark icon on the home screen, to watch a video of a young boy playing with the app. I like the idea of a demonstration video to show how the app works, but thought it could be better explained by having written instructions displayed, and/or audible instructions during the video. Little Digits isn’t one that a child can open and instinctively figure out on their own, just by simply playing around. Parental guidance is important for introducing this app to a little one, but it didn’t take long at all for my almost four year old to grasp the concept.

Tap on the “123″ planet, and here, your child can experiment in free play. Have them place as many fingers on the screen as desired, and see the number of fingers placed on the screen represented numerically with a cute number creature, and hear the number read aloud by a charming, child’s voiceover. Help them practice adding one finger at a time, to count from zero to ten, and back down again.

Tap on the addition sign planet on the home screen, and he or she will solve simple addition equations. When an answer is determined, represent that number answer by placing that many fingers on the screen to be detected. If your child gets the answer wrong, the music changes to a short, disappointing melody, and then your child will have the chance to try again. I love how kids have an opportunity to try as many times as they need to get the answer correct. The same concept is used for the subtraction game (accessed by the subtraction sign planet on the home screen).

Tap the microphone icon on the home screen, and you or your child can record your own voices reading the numbers aloud, and hear your voice recordings in the games. This is a fun feature that further reinforces learning numbers.

See Little Digits in action in the video below; the same instructional video you can access from the app.

Little Digits is a an app that will be enjoyed and re-enjoyed; it grows with your child, from when he or she is just learning to count, til she is mastering and solving simple addition and subtraction problems. I like how it teaches early math on all fronts; you can’t just simply memorize a number by its shape/symbol, you must understand its numerical value, be able to recognize the number and its amount by hearing it, and then determine what will happen to that amount if you add some or take away from it. Little Digits attacks numbers full circle, for complete understanding, and makes it fun and appealing to both boys and girls.

The best tool for learning how to count, add, and subtract is right in the hands of little kids-their fingers and an iPad! Little Digits is an innovative app that takes a tried-and- true concept of counting on your fingers, to a digital platform by allowing fun interactions in multi-touch capabilities, from free play with numbers, to critically thinking about solving math equations. Great app to have on your iPad.

Disclosure: I do not receive compensation for writing this review. The photos used were taken as screen shots from my iPhone or iPad. Views expressed in this review are purely and only mine. Pricing was accurate at the time of this review.