Funschool Math game for preschool

Internet can be of a help or a hindrance in aiding children’s education. It will be of a help when we focus on enhancing the existing curriculum with online activities that encourage exploration, imagination, collaboration and problem-solving. Nonetheless, there are inappropriate and unsuitable online activities for young children thus as professional early childhood educators, we should be careful when selecting online activities for young children.

We (early childhood educators) should try out and analyse the online activities before letting our children to play them. If the game is badly chosen, it will have negative aftermath on young children. Also, parents and teacher should work hand-in-hand in exposing the use of internet to children. Teachers alone cannot complete the entire task as children still spend most of their times at home with parents. We also come to an understanding that “you” parents have a very busy schedule therefore our sites will be updating a series of games reviews ranging from language to math and science on a weekly basis so as to reduce “you” parents workload.

We will be focusing on MATHEMATICS activities this week.

Game 1 ) Fishin' Mission

The first online activity that we would like to introduce is Fishin’ Mission which placed focus on mathematical skill, specifically on counting and sorting skills.

The site, however, does not state the age appropriateness for this game so we went through the game and come to a conclusion that the age appropriateness of this game is between 4 to 5 years old (N2s-K1s) as it will required children to be able to recognize number 1-15 and to be able segregates items into groups according to a specified criterion, which in this case is colours.

The instructions are clear and simple, understandable for the 5 years old. However, there are no auditory instructions, for the 4 years old children, an adult might have to be there to explain the instructions to them.

Stage 1: catch the number of the fishes that the children will have to catch is below 5
Stage 2: the number increased to a maximum of 10
Stage 3: Another type of fish will be added in, the number of fishes that children have to catch is below 5
Stage 4: The number increased to a maximum of 15
Stage 5: Another fish will be added in, making there 3 types of fishes for the children to sort. The number here will stay in a range of 1-15.

With the description above, it shows that there is a gradual increase in the difficulty of the game. We feel that is a good because the stages are like a guide for children as it expands the complexity.

This game required the child to put the correct (required) fish into the net as well as catch the correct number of fish as shown in the picture. If the child put the wrong (required) fish into the net, a word "sorry" will appear on the screen. The net will then break and the old man will be screaming; indicating that they have picked the wrong fish.

The cute animation of the man with the sound effect makes the game fun. Even when the child might get an answer wrong, it is not harsh to the children. it also attracts the children thus making them wanting to play more.



There is also another limiting factor for the children, which is the time. Time given here are reasonable as they take into consideration the fine motor skills that the children will need to have to use the mouse.

However, if the child do no complete within the time limit, the game will end and children can try again by just simply clicking on the "try again" button.

In this game, encouragements are given every time the player gets a correct answer. This motives and challenges the child to move on to the harder/next level.

At the end of this game, a "great job" will appear giving children encouragement that they have complete all the 5 levels successfully. This makes children feel good and children will want to accept harder challenges in the future.

To sum it up, Fishin’ Mission matches to our math curriculum as children are required to do counting and sorting. It is age-appropriate for children between 4-5 years old and the instructions provided are simple and clear but it could be better if auditory. Nonetheless, the game did have sound effect which makes the whole game more exciting for the children. Not to mention, the game is easy to navigate. Teachers to open the website and find the game and children can explore the game on their own without much problem. Also, fishing is something that teacher can relate to children through a proper lesson giving children ideas what does fishermen do. Lastly, the site is technical problem, as well as, violence free and it does not require any additional software which might add costs. So let your child try out the game today since it does not cost a cent.

To try out this game, click here ! :D

We will rate this game 4/5! Worth to try it out :)